Even when organisations have the strongest defence to protect their confidential data, there will always be areas or weaknesses that can be exploited if they are not careful. Here are some of the recent data breach cases:

·       In November 2021, a software company was fined S$74,000 for failing to put in place reasonable security arrangements to prevent unauthorised access and exfiltration of customers’ personal data hosted in a cloud database.

·       In October 2021, an internet marketing company was fined S$37,500 for failing to put in place reasonable security arrangements to protect customers’ data.

·       In September 2021, another software company was fined S$13,500 for failing to put in place reasonable security arrangements to protect their former employees’ data.

The number of data breaches in 2021 has surpassed last year’s. According to the Cyber Security Agency (CSA), the top three cyberattacks are phishing, ransomware, and website attacks. Two other growing risks that we should watch out for are the risk from working from home, and the risk from outsourcing third-party service providers.

 

Know the Consequences and Be Vigilant

Any breach of personal information is a violation of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) that comes with costly penalties or irreversible reputational damage.

Protecting information is like taking care of our personal health. If we are not careful, we could easily succumb to virus attacks. It is, therefore, a good practice to check an organisation’s health status to identify gaps and/or weaknesses to avoid attacks or breaches.  

Year 2022 will be a year of cybersecurity. Business leaders must recognise the importance of integrated security thinking. Regular health checks are essential in establishing a robust foundation for businesses to remain resilient, and it should cover the overall setting up of IT infrastructure, endpoint security, network security, cloud security, application security, user awareness, incident responses, disaster recovery, and most importantly the management of outsourced service providers.

While you cannot foresee the future, you can definitely minimise costly consequences by being vigilant.

 

To find out more and how we can assist you in ramping up your cybersecurity measures, please reach out to our specialists.

Hoi Wai Khin
Partner, Business Consulting
T +65 6594 7880
[email protected]