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PII requires protection for both legal and reputational reasons, but if a data breach occurs, will your company still be able to protect this sensitive data? What Is Considered PII? Personally identifiable information is any information that could be used to identify a specific individual; this includes Social Security numbers, full names, and passport numbers. These are typically regarded as the traditional forms of PII. However, with the increased digitization of society and with it our online identities, the scope of PII has expanded to include personally identifiable financial information, login IDs, IP addresses, and social media posts. PII Data Classification PII data classification is a central part of the PII identification process, and it can be used to broadly differentiate between sensitive and nonsensitive PII. Nonsensitive PII This is the type of PII that can be easily obtained from public sources like corporate directories, the internet, and phone books. It can also be transmitted in an unsecured form without harming the individual or exposing their identity. This type of data usually consists of the following: Gender Zip Code Date of birth Place of birth Ethnicity This obviously isn’t an exhaustive list. However, it underlines the type of information about a person that doesn’t pose any threat to their privacy when made public. Sensitive PII This consists of personal information whose public exposure can be harmful to the individual. The risk of exposure often results in identity theft that damages the individual’s credit or compromises their financial wellbeing. Examples of sensitive PII include the following: Social security number Passport number Driver’s license Mailing address Medical records Credit card information Banking and financial information Risk also extends to organizations when sensitive PII in their possession is leaked or compromised. The organization breached suffers reputational damage and is often burdened with noncompliance fines. As a result, sensitive PII needs to be stored securely, usually by using strong encryption mechanisms. What Are Non-PII Examples? There is some overlap between non-sensitive PII and what is generally considered non-PII. Though non-PII may relate to an individual, the information is so general it will not point to the individual’s identity. Non-PII examples include information such as race, religion, business phone numbers, place of work, and job titles. Although nonsensitive PII and non-PII may contain quasi-identifiers, this type of data alone cannot be used to confirm a person’s identity on its own. However, when nonsensitive data is combined or linked with other personal linkable information, it can be used to identify an individual. So businesses should still exercise caution with non-PII since reidentification and de-anonymization techniques can be applied on them. Especially through piecing together several sets of quasi-identifiers to distinguish individuals and reveal their personal identities. Therefore, organizations should ask themselves two questions regarding the sensitivity of their data: Identification: Can this specific piece of data on its own be used to identify an individual? Data combination: Can several unique pieces of data be pieced together to identify someone? PII is a very malleable term and the precise contours of its definition depend on where you live in the world. For instance, the United States government defines it as anything that can “be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity,” such as biometric data, whether in isolation or in conjunction with other identifiers like date of birth or educational information. In Europe, its definition expands to include quasi-identifiers as listed in General Data Protection Regulation. Why Is PII Important? Identification mechanisms are crucial in a functional society to distinguish one person from another. The individual markers that PII provides are necessary to acquire and disseminate goods and services in a market economy. Not to mention its importance for ownership and acquisition of capital. For instance, without PII, it would be impossible to have meaningful medical records to facilitate public healthcare or grease the wheels of commerce with credit and banking information. PII is also important to criminals who can sell it for a handsome profit on the black market. Why Is Safeguarding PII Important? As highlighted in the last section, PII is necessary for the flow of goods and services in a society. However, if left unprotected, PII leads to identity theft and other forms of fraud. This is because hackers find PII to be an extremely valuable target due to the variety of criminal activity it allows them to perpetrate. Some of the potential harm suffered by individuals may include embarrassment, theft, and blackmail. Data breaches not only create legal liability for the organization but also reduce public trust in the organization. Due to these risks, PII should be protected from unauthorized access, usage, and disclosure to safeguard its confidentiality. However, PII creates privacy and data security challenges for organizations that collect, store, or process it. Therefore, the importance of PII also stems from its impact on the information security environments of organizations and the legal obligations this demands. PII Security Best Practices PII has become so valuable to enterprises and bad actors alike that it needs a special security framework to protect it both at rest and in transit. In addition to the traditional methods of encryption and identity access management, this framework also encompasses document security measures such as data loss prevention, digital rights management, and information rights management. DRM includes data security measures that protect PII within the boundaries of the corporate network or firewalls. But while DRM is important to PII, its overriding objective is locking down data, intellectual property protection, and the monetization that goes with it. IRM, however, is based on zero-trust security, which essentially means an implicit distrust of the user or platform that has access to the data. To achieve this, IRM accompanies the data wherever it goes. Here are the six practical ways to ensure the PII collected by your organization is secure: Discover and classify PII: This starts with identifying and classifying all the PII an organization collects, accesses, processes, and stores. It also involves locating where this data is stored, especially sensitive PII, to better understand how it can be protected. Establish an acceptable usage policy: This involves creating a framework of policies that guide how PII is accessed. One of its key benefits is serving as a starting point for enacting technology-based controls to enforce proper PII usage and access. Create the right identity access and privilege model: Enforcing usage rights and access controls with identity access management. Establish least-privilege models so users only access the data they need at a given moment. Implement robust encryption: Deploy strong encryption algorithms to protect PII at all times. Delete PII you no longer need: Ensure you don’t store PII you no longer need because it can pose compliance and vulnerability risks. Therefore, create a system for safely destroying old records without accidentally destroying viable ones. Create training procedures and policies for handling sensitive PII: Use training and policies to emphasize how various types of PII should be stored and protected. How to Safeguard and Enforce PII Compliance One of the first points of order to safeguard PII is to understand where it is located. Once a business knows where its PII resides, it can subsequently embark on the necessary mechanisms to prevent its unauthorized disclosure.

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Trying to prevent ransomware at your organization? Having backups in place and an incident response plan are only part of it. Here are some tips on preventing and mitigating ransomware attacks. According to a report by RiskRecon, publicly destructive ransomware events grew over 5x from 2017 to 2021. Ransomware is a type of malware that will block your legitimate access to a system until you pay up a certain amount of ransom or circumvent the attack through other measures. It encrypts the victim’s files, making them inaccessible, and threatens to delete them if the ransom isn’t paid. A recent ransomware attack hit farming equipment-making giant AGCO after the FBI warned that ransomware attackers are planning more attacks. Such attacks can be even more detrimental to the public when they attack hospitals, financial institutions, defense organizations, etc. Ransomware is generally delivered to the victim’s system through phishing, making an unsuspecting user click on a malicious link. Once ransomware is installed on the device, it starts encrypting files and sends an extortion note to the victim. What makes ransomware even more worrisome is that in many cases, attackers don’t unlock the data even when the ransom is paid. Businesses of all sizes are increasingly targeted by ransomware attacks, including small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To make sure your system doesn’t get infected with ransomware, follow these simple tips. 1. TAKE REGULAR BACKUPS Ransomware works by encrypting and blocking your access to important data. If you have a current backup of all important data, there is less reason to worry. If you are ever hit by a ransomware attack, you can revert to a previous unencrypted version to regain access to your systems and data. Your backups should be stored offline and at a location where they cannot be targeted by attackers. Test your backups regularly for efficiency. If you do face an attack, make sure the backup isn’t infected before you roll back. Having a backup is probably the most important line of defense against ransomware. 2. USE A RANSOMWARE PROTECTION SOLUTION Use a ransomware threat protection software solution that is designed to detect and block threats. For instance, Digital Guardian’s ransomware protection solution filters out noise and provides deep visibility into advanced threats. 3. BEWARE OF PHISHING ATTEMPTS Ransomware is most commonly spread through phishing. Make sure you or your team doesn’t click on untrusted links. Most phishing attempts are done through emails so it’s important to avoid suspicious emails. Phishing awareness training should be given not just to the IT security team but to all employees of the organization. 4. SANDBOXING Sandboxing all communication, especially emails, can add protection to the system. Since human errors cannot be completely avoided, having a secure email gateway solution can be helpful in keeping your system ransomware-free. There must be email filters in place that filter out emails that might contain suspicious links or unknown file types. 5. CREATE AN INCIDENT RESPONSE PLAN With an incident response plan in place, the IT security team will know what to do if they do encounter a ransomware attack. The plan should define the roles and responsibilities of personnel along with the steps that need to be taken. It should also define the communication that needs to take place and stakeholders that need to be informed about the attack. Some actions defined in the incident response plan could be: • Communicating the attack details to customers and/or other affected parties • Steps to restore the data that has been lost • Steps to rebuild the network and computer systems When there’s a carefully designed plan, there will be no panic in case of an attack and the situation can be managed more easily. 6. HAVE THE RIGHT WEB SECURITY/FIREWALL TECHNOLOGY With a firewall, you can monitor and filter HTTP traffic to a web service. A firewall is the first line of defense against cyber-attacks. When your company uses web applications and APIs, you might be exposed to malicious traffic. With a firewall, you can filter out potentially harmful traffic. Make sure your firewall protects some specific ports such as RDP port 3389 and SMB port 445 as many ransomware attackers use these ports. A properly configured firewall will not just protect you against ransomware but also against other kinds of malware and other cyber threats. 7. KEEP YOUR SOFTWARE UPDATED This is a general line of defense against all cyber-attacks. Since software developers keep coming up with patches and bug fixes, keeping your system updated will cover all loopholes before they could be exploited. Whether it’s the operating system or other software that you run on your network, keeping them on auto-update will reduce your chances of being infected by any malware, including ransomware. IF YOU STILL GET ATTACKED While we have discussed ways to avoid being attacked by ransomware, if you still get attacked, the question is: should you pay? If you have an incident response plan and regular backups, there is no reason you’d have to pay. However, if you don’t have an updated backup and are being asked to pay up, it’s best to discuss these matters with law enforcement agencies. The FBI has expertise and insights on these matters, and they can guide you on what should be done next. You might also want to try some decryption tools to see if they can unlock your data. Some experts warn against paying up to ransomware attackers because there is no guarantee that your files will return back to their original state after you pay the ransom. In such a scenario, try getting help from law enforcement agencies. Following the best practices mentioned here will help you stay safe from ransomware and avoid being targeted.

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