Data Leakage Vs. Data Loss: What’s The Difference?

November 11, 2021

Any data-related conflict an organization may encounter calls for the incrementation and enforcement of websites protecting measurements. Although this might seem complicated for any small business owner or starter hosting services, problems like this are easy to avoid when understood. The most common data-related conflict an organization might encounter is often data leakage and data losses. Once these problems occur, they account for different troubles for the organization but can be prevented with similar protection measurements.

Data Leakage

What is Data Leakage?

Data leakage is the unauthorized transmission of data from within an organization to an external user. This leakage can either be electronic or physical, intentional, or unintentional. Threats often occur via web or email but might also happen through data storage devices such as USB, laptops, and optical media.

Unintentional data leakages could happen when an employee misplaces any information on their way home, which is taken by someone else. This does not always indicate harm for a company since the person who gets access to this misplaced information could be harmless and done without malice. However, it is still preferred to minimize the risk of this happening.

When done with malice, data leakage is transmitted to someone who has no legal right to possess this information and might sell it or breach privacy with it. Small businesses use applications like oracle, ADP, people soft, etc., to handle their data. These software programs are so extensive that any reports or analytics could be exposed and shared before it is too late to notice. For this reason, any size business is encouraged to implement data protection measurements in addition to any operational software.

What is Data Loss?

Data loss refers to any intentional or accidental loss of data the organization has no longer access to. Half of the lost data occurs due to hardware failures such as memory loss, power outages, human error, or even natural events. Intentional data losses are the responsibility of malware viruses and computer hackers that delete this information to harm an organization. Data loss can occur on individual devices and servers equally. Hence the need for daily backups and cloud usage of valuable and sensitive information.

Although preventing data leakages or losses is not 100% inevitable, organizations can still protect what is most important. The best practices to safeguard all data an organization can implement are training their employees on how to protect all data, having a secure offsite service such as the cloud, and backing up all relevant information daily.

Data loss cyber attack

How Can Small Enterprise Technology Help?

Learning the skill required to protect your data and training all staff successfully can be time-consuming and overwhelming for any company. Fortunately, Small Enterprise Technology is staffed with qualified business and technology professionals who focus on implementing and supporting every aspect of your company’s information technology requirements. To learn more about how Small Enterprise Technology can help your business stay protected from data leakages and loss, call or contact us today to get started!