For companies, a data leak means a negative impact on their image, and in extreme cases it can result in financial penalties.

Cyberattacks on celebrities are common online. One example is the case of Nicol Leigh, a player for the football club Crystal Palace. A hacker broke into her private cloud, stole nude photos of the footballer, and shared them on pornographic sites. Nicol learned that her photos were circulating online from an Instagram user. As a consequence, the victim of the attack fell into depression.

Consequences of a data leak

The consequences of a data leak can affect a much larger number of people at once when a company falls victim. This was the case with Yahoo — hackers stole information on 3 billion email accounts! This included, among other things, account holders' first and last names, their phone numbers, and passwords. Data leaks also affect financial institutions. One large Polish bank suffered a leak caused by the carelessness of one of its employees. As a result, CVs and cover letters of people applying for jobs at the bank appeared on the institution's official website.

The weakest link in security

A data leak at a company results not only from an administrator's carelessness but also from employees' lack of awareness regarding the importance of corporate data security. Experts say that the weakest link in ensuring data security is the user themselves. To eliminate this problem, training and dedicated DLP (data loss prevention) solutions, which protect data from accidental or intentional leaks, can prove helpful. One such product is Safetica.

"Safetica automatically determines whether data should be protected and to what extent. Based on the administrator's suggestions, it assigns appropriate security policies to a specific user or workstation in such a way that data crucial to the organization (regardless of its type) cannot leave the company environment." — says Mateusz Piątek, Project Manager at Safetica.

Basic protection rules

In addition to using dedicated data protection solutions, it is worth remembering a few basic rules:

  • Ensure regular employee training. If you are the administrator of a corporate network, don't forget to train company employees on the company's security policy and the safeguards that have been implemented.
  • Keep documents in a safe place, inaccessible to unauthorized persons. Don't leave documents such as invoices or emails in plain view at the company, and if you are a private individual, keep an eye on your ID card, passport, or driving license.
  • Destroy old company documents. They are valuable enough that many hackers begin their attacks by searching waste bins located near a specific company.
  • Protect important data with a password. Many experts recommend that a password consist of at least eight characters, including lowercase and uppercase letters, digits, and special characters such as ! or #.
  • Protect access to key systems and services using two-factor authentication. For this purpose, you can use dedicated two-factor authentication products such as ESET Secure Authentication. As a result, after entering your password, the device will ask you for additional verification, which may be an SMS code or a confirmation in a mobile app.

Terms from the article

Effective protection of company data from leaks

Email — electronic mail. A digital communication channel using messages sent to an email address. In marketing, it covers newsletters, automation, segmentation, personalization, subject line testing, and analysis of deliverability and conversion.

Why it matters: The only channel that truly belongs to you: your address database won't disappear due to an algorithm change and won't get more expensive like advertising. It reaches the inbox directly, with full measurability.

When it is used: In newsletters, sales automations, customer communication, and abandoned cart recovery.

What happens if you skip it: Without your own database, every contact with an audience requires paying platforms — and organic reach declines year after year.

Summary

Data leaks affect both celebrities and large enterprises — from the hack of Crystal Palace's Nicol Leigh's cloud to the Yahoo attack, in which data from 3 billion email accounts was stolen. In companies, the most common cause is human error, which is why experts recommend combining training with DLP solutions such as Safetica, which automatically enforces security policies. Simple habits also matter: strong passwords, destroying documents, and two-factor authentication, e.g. via ESET Secure Authentication. Awareness of threats and systematic procedures minimize the risk of costly incidents.