The document discusses data breaches, including common causes such as human error, malware attacks, overly permissive access controls, and insider misuse. Major consequences are financial losses from responding to the breach, reputational damage to the company, potential legal actions, and loss of sensitive customer data. A case study describes a 2021 breach of LinkedIn where a hacker scraped and leaked data for 700 million users. Recommendations to prevent breaches include identifying sensitive data, limiting access, strong passwords, encryption, staff training, and regularly assessing risks.

1. DIGITAL FORENSIC
REPORT ON DATA BREACHES
Topic
1) Introduction
2) Causes on data breaches
3) Consequences on data breaches
4) Case study 5) Prevention
Introduction:-
Data breach is an incident where information is stolen or taken from a system without the
knowledge or authorization of the system owner.

2. 2
• Most data breaches are attributed to hacking or malware attacks . A small company or
large organization may suffer a data breach
• Data breaches may involved financial information such as credit card & debit card details,
bank details, personal health information (PHI) personally identifiable information (PII),
trade secrets of corporations or intellectual property.
• Data breaches may involve overexposed and vulnerable unstructured data – files,
documents, sensitive information.
• A data breach may include incident such as theft or loss of digital media such as computer
tapes, hard drives, laptop computer with unencrypted information, posting such
information on the world wide Web without proper information security precautions.
CAUSES OF DATA BREACHES
There are many causes of data breaches:-
1) Human error :-
One of the biggest sources of a data breaches isn’t some unknown or forgotten security
bug it’s human error.
The specific nature of the error may vary, but some scenarios include.
#The use of weak Passwords
#Sending sensitive information To the wrong recipients.
#Sharing password/account Information. #Falling
for phishing scams.
2)Malware:-
•Malware isn’t just a Problem for personal Computers at the Homes of employees, It’s an
ever-expanding Threat aimed directly at your company’s Systems. According to The Verizon
DBIR 2015, “5 malware events Occur every second.”
•Many malware Programs hail from just A few different families.
3)To Many permission:-

3. 3
•Overly complex access Permissions are a gift to A hacker. Businesses That don’t keep a
tight rein on who has access To what within their Organization are likely To have either given the
Wrong permissions to The wrong people or Have left out of date Permissions around for A smiling
hacker to Exploit.
4. Physical Attacks :-
•Hackers don’t just sit in Back bedrooms in far off lands, they have High visibility jackets
And a strong line in Plausible patter to Enable them to work Their way into your Building and onto
your Computer systems.
5)insider misuse :-
•While closely related to Human error, this cause Of company data is More insidious in
nature.
Insider misuse, On the other hand, is The deliberate abuse of Your company’s Systems by
an Authorized user, Typically for personal Gain.
6) Application vulnerabilities :-
•All software has Technical vulnerability That crooks can exploit In countless
ways.
That’s why the Organizations that Maintain those Programs routinely look For and address
exploits Before they are Discovered by criminals.
Consequences of Data Breaches
1.Financial Loss :-
The financial impact of a Data breach is undoubtedly one of the Most immediate and
Hard-hitting Consequences that Organizations will have To deal

4. 4
the Costs can include Compensating affected Customers, setting up Incident response
Efforts, investigating
The breach, investment Into new security Measures, legal fees, Not to mention the
eyewatering regulatory Penalties. A breach can also Significantly impact a Company’s share price
And valuation.
For example – Yahoo was Breached in 2013. The breach Came to light in 2016 when the Company
was about to be Bought over by US telecoms Company Verizon. The Acquisition went ahead with
The company buying Yahoo for A discounted rate of $4.48 billion, around $350 million Less than
the original asking Price.
2) Reputational Damage:-
•The reputational damage Resulting from a data breach Can be devastating for a
Business.
•Research has shown that up To a third of customers in Retail, finance and Healthcare
will stop doing Business.
•Research has shown that up To a third of customers in Retail, finance and
Healthcare will stop doing business with organizations That have been breached.
•Reputational damage is Long-lasting and will also Impact an organization’s Ability to
attract new Customers, future Investment and new Employees to the company

5. 5
3) LEGAL ACTION :-
•Under data protection Regulations, organizations Are legally bound to demonstrate
that they Have taken all the Necessary steps to protect Personal data.
If this data Is compromised, whether It’s intentional or not, Individuals can seek
legal Action to claim Compensation.
4) LOSS OF SENSITIVE DATA:-
•If a data breach has Resulted in the loss of Sensitive personal data, the
consequences can be Devastating.
•Personal data is any Information that can be Used to directly or Indirectly identify
an Individual. This will include everything From a name to an email Address, IP address and
Images.
It also includes Sensitive personal data Such as biometric data or Genetic data which
could Be processed to identify an Individual.

6. 6
Case study on Data Breach
Date: June 2021
Impact: 700 million users Professional networking giant LinkedIn saw data associated With 700
million of its users Posted on a dark web forum in June 2021, impacting more Than 90% of its user
base. A Hacker going by the moniker of
“God User” used data scraping techniques by exploiting the Site’s (and others’) API before
Dumping a first information Data set of around 500 million Customers. They then followed Up
with a boast that they were Selling the full 700 million Customer database.
While LinkedIn argued that as no Sensitive, private personal Data was exposed, the incident Was a
violation of its terms of Service rather than a data breach, a scraped data sample
Posted by God User contained Information including email Addresses, phone numbers,
Geolocation records, genders And other social media details, Which would give malicious Actors
plenty of data to craft Convincing, follow-on social Engineering attacks in the Wake of the leak, as
warned by The UK’s NCSC.
Prevention of Data Breaches
1.Identity sensitive data Collected, stored, transmitted, Or processes.
2.Identify areas that store, Transmit, collect, or process Sensitive data.
3.Identify users with access to Sensitive data.4.Identify devices that store, Transmit, collect, or
process Sensitive data.

7. 7
5.Limit access according to the Principle of least privilege.
6.Establish a strong password Policy.
7.Install anti-virus software.
8.Establish a vendor risk Management policy and Program.
9.Establish a 3-2-1 data backup And recovery process.
10.Establish and test an Incident detection and incident Response program.
11.Establish a secure data Retention and disposal policy.
12.Encrypt data-at-rest and intransit.
13.Use a centralized log Management solution.
14.Staff training and Awareness.
15.Assess risk.