In recent years, with the advancement of information technology, companies need to be careful about security incidents. Security incidents occur due to various factors such as cyber attacks, natural disasters, human error, and physical theft, and can have a significant impact on the survival of a company. Responding to security incidents has become essential for continuing corporate activities.
In this article, we will explain the basics of security incidents, including their overview, types, and the measures that companies should take against them.
What is a security incident?
A security incident is an event that materializes a threat to the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an information system. Simply put, it can be called a “security threat.”
Specifically, these include data leaks due to cyber attacks, system downtime, damage to data centers due to natural disasters, information leaks due to human error, and physical theft. The occurrence of security incidents can have a significant impact on a company’s operations and, in some cases, may even develop into legal issues. For this reason, in today’s information-driven society, responding to security incidents is essential regardless of industry or business type.
Main types of security incidents
Security incidents are classified into several types depending on the cause of their occurrence. Here we will provide an overview of each type.
Security incidents resulting from cyber attacks
Security incidents caused by cyber attacks are the most common and serious threat to companies. Major examples of cyber attacks include malware infection, ransomware attacks, and DoS attacks.
Malware infection:
A general term for malicious software such as computer viruses, spyware, and Trojan horses that invade systems and steal or destroy data. In recent years, there has been an increase in targeted attacks targeting important corporate data.
Ransomware attacks:
These attacks encrypt systems and demand a ransom to unlock them, often threatening to make data public or lose it forever if payment is not made, severely impacting the operations of companies.
Denial of Service attacks:
Also known as a denial of service attack, this is an attack that sends a large amount of traffic to a specific network or system, causing normal service to be halted. A DoS attack causes a website or online service to become temporarily unavailable.
Security incidents due to natural disasters
Cyberattacks are not the only cause of security incidents. They can also be caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and typhoons. Natural disasters can cause physical damage to data centers and server facilities, resulting in system downtime, data loss, and business interruptions. Japan is a country that is prone to natural disasters, including earthquakes. Natural disasters are difficult to predict, and the damage they cause can be severe, so advance measures are important.
Security incidents caused by human error
Human error also contributes to security incidents, such as sending emails to the wrong person, accidentally deleting data, accidentally disclosing confidential information, etc. These errors can be prevented to some extent by educating employees and improving work processes.
In addition, there may be cases where employees cause security incidents with malicious intent. It is also important to be careful of man-made security incidents, such as employees obtaining unfair money through internal fraud or using confidential information to change jobs.
Other security incidents
Security incidents also include physical theft or vandalism, such as theft of computers or mobile devices from an office or unauthorized entry into a facility, which can be prevented through improved security measures and access management.
Security incident countermeasures that companies should take
Dealing with security incidents requires both technical and organizational/operational measures.
Technical countermeasures
Technical measures refer to specific means to protect systems and data. For example, “strengthening network security” by introducing firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to prevent unauthorized access from outside is one example. In addition, it is also important to provide secure remote access using VPNs.
Other effective measures include data encryption and access management to prevent easy access to confidential information and to make it difficult to decipher even if it is leaked.
Organizational and operational measures
In addition to technical measures, it is also important to have unified security operation measures across the entire organization. First of all, regularly provide education and training to raise employees’ security awareness. This will help prevent human error and internal fraud while learning new security knowledge.
It is also important to consider how to respond after a security incident occurs. Decide in advance how your organization will respond to an incident, such as by formulating an incident response plan and an emergency communication plan, and share this information within the company.
Security incidents are an unavoidable threat to companies, but the risk can be minimized by taking appropriate measures. It is important to combine technical measures with organizational and operational measures to raise security awareness throughout the company. Considering the possibility that new threats will continue to emerge in the future, we should always collect the latest information and consider how to respond to security incidents.