Data Leak and Data Breach . Two terms that we see very frequently when we read about cybersecurity. In this article we are going to talk about the differences in each case. We will explain what each of them is and how it could affect our privacy or security. We already know that there are many threats that can put our computers at risk and that, in one way or another, can harm users when browsing the web.
What does Data Breach mean
First of all we want to start by explaining what Data Breach is. It is perhaps what is most present on the net. It is the main term, from which the other would derive. It is an attack, an intrusion into a system with the aim of stealing information and data .
This is something that can put at risk not only the security and privacy of individual users, but also of any type of organization or company. It basically consists of the intrusion of a third party to get data. They can carry out different methods of attacks to achieve the objective.
In Spanish we could translate it as a data breach . Attacking a system to steal information. For this to occur, as we have mentioned, there needs to be an attack. They can use different varieties of malware, for example, to infect and collect that data.
We have seen many such attacks. Many data breaches that have compromised the security of multiple organizations. We talk about social networks, very varied companies, public organizations, private users …
What does Data Leak mean
Another term we want to explain is Data Leak . In this case, we refer to an information and data leak. This is something that can be public on the Internet. It could logically affect the privacy of users and organizations or companies. In Spanish we could translate it as data leakage.
For there to be this data leak or Data Leak, a Data Breach has previously had to occur, an attack to obtain that information. This can happen if there is some kind of vulnerability that exposes that content and is available to anyone.
A very important difference is that in this case it has been able to reach a large number of users. That is to say, being public on the Internet it is possible that it has reached thousands of people and that confidential information is totally exposed.
Therefore we can say that in this case it is a data breach that has been exposed on the Internet . Information that may be available to anyone and that ultimately puts the privacy of many users at risk. Let’s say there has been an attack on a social network in which we have an account. All user data has been publicly exposed and anyone has accessed it. This would affect many users.
There have been many cases of Data Leaks. They have mainly affected social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn, as well as other platforms such as Dropbox.
How to protect ourselves from these attacks
To protect ourselves from Data Breaches it is best to always keep the systems updated . We have seen that hackers can carry out different types of attacks with the aim of breaking security and gathering information. In many cases, they take advantage of vulnerabilities that exist.
Therefore it will be very important to have the equipment patched correctly. It will also be essential to have security tools that can protect us. In this way we can combat the possible entry of malicious software.
Regarding Data Leaks, the best way to avoid problems that result in the exposure of personal information is to encrypt confidential content when we upload it to the Internet. It is the best way to protect ourselves when a platform suffers an attack of this type and we are indirectly affected.
In short, as we see there are differences between Data Breach and Data Leak, although in both cases the privacy of the users is at stake.