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A security breach is defined as an incident that results in unauthorized access of data, applications, services, networks, and/or devices by bypassing their underlying security mechanisms (Techopedia). These breaches can be large or small scale, and some can be more serious than others, but they are becoming more common and more malicious.

As more and more companies are coming under the spotlight for cybersecurity breaches that are putting private consumer data at risk, it’s important to look at what role telecommunications plays in such breaches and what can be done to prevent them in the future.

While the average citizen is indeed at risk of cyber threats, the top target of most cyber criminals are nations. Interestingly, they are also the most capable of enacting a breach of their own (MWRInfosecurity). This stems from the increased presence of intelligence agencies in national security and will likely only continue to grow in the near future.

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So how do government intelligence agencies and cyber criminals go about their security breaches? They do it through various media, but one of the most popular is through telecom companies. Telecoms are an important target for attacks because they carry and transport vital and sensitive data. Governments usually establish this type of covert surveillance by utilizing sophisticated programs that can go undetected for long periods of time, making them all the more dangerous. Such programs can breach everything from phone lines, to online chats, to mobile phone data. Basic cyber criminals, on the other hand, target customer data stored by telecoms. This data can include names, addresses, and financial information. Identity theft and bank theft occur from this type of breach (Deloitte).

If technology is only becoming more prominent, how can we minimize the cybersecurity threats in telecom companies? It is difficult, but not impossible. One important step is making sure the source of all data is known and verified and that each subsequent movement of the data can be traced back to one employee, thus implementing accountability and discouraging employees from going rogue.

Another way to minimize security breaches is to perform frequent and systematic checks of all systems to identify and eliminate any cyber threat that may have made its way into the system. Vigilance is key.

As telecoms continue to grow, cybersecurity issues likely will as well. But as the problem grows, more resolutions will come about. Stay up to date with the latest risks and solutions and you will be minimizing the risk of both your company and customers.

We live in the Internet world: we buy and pay through Internet, we need Internet in our jobs, we share pictures, interests and we chat through Internet, we make calls via Internet… All these actions require a large amount of information that must be kept somewhere. Because this data is very valuable and may content sensible and secret material, the security which protects it needs to be very strong and effective. That is the reason why cybersecurity has become one of the most important concerns, not only for companies if not for citizens and governments as well.

The financial damage caused by security breaches is difficult to calculate because there is not one single standard model for estimating the cost of such crimes. However, and according to Go-Gulf, the annual estimated cost over global cybercrime is $100 Billion. Meanwhile, the estimated victims per year is 556 million, which represents over 1.5 million per day or 18 victims per second. In addition, every day more than 100.000 new virus threats have been detected. These numbers show in a clear way the importance of cybersecurity.

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