Data security entails making efforts to guarantee that sensitive information stored is not deliberately accessed, modified, or manipulated by unauthorized personnel. The data that any institution creates collects, stores, and exchanges is a valuable asset (Xu et al., 2019) . Sensitive data for citizens in any organization should never be disposed to unauthorized individuals because it could be a goldmine for hackers. The Data Protect Act requires organizations to follow the set principles to ensure that staffs’ and customers’ data is protected (Ghani et al., 2020). The relevance of securing data is that it assists institutions from financial losses. Ensuring that the financial information is secure is a vital way of preventing hackers from having financial access to an organization. Using encrypted cloud-based accounting software would secure the financial information. Securing data assist in preventing organizational reputation damage. Clients no longer trust organizations that are reported as having been hacked and sensitive data been accessed because they believe the institutions are mismanaged. Moreover, maintaining data security protects institutions from consumer confidence disintegration and brand erosion. Organizations without any history of data manipulation from unauthorized personnel win the clients' confidence, and the brand's safety is secured.
Consequences of Unauthorized Access to Customer Database
When unauthorized individuals access customer databases, clients' data including personal identities are stolen (Zhang, 2018) Social security numbers could be used by hackers in signing up credit cards using clients' names to purchase large quantities of goods, leaving unpaid bills and ruining the credit scores of customers. In addition, accessing the customer database destroys the clients’ personal safety because information such as home addresses, phone numbers and emails are used by hackers to threaten the customers until they acquire what they needs. Hackers may send private text messages with sensitive information with an aim of deception. For instance, inflammatory emails could be sent from the client’s account to damage their reputation. Accessing th clients' database could reveal vital usernames and passwords that could be used to compromise vital information stored in organizational management computers. Customers with compromised data due to data breaches are reluctant to do business with the same institution. Therefore, the relationship between the organization and clients is lost, leading to loss of customer lifetime value for the e-commerce business.
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What could happen if someone changes the information in your customer database and adds fictitious data?
Organizations are accountable for collecting, storing, and transmitting private information from clients (Xu et al., 2019) . Thus, they bear the burden of the consequences during the information breach. The addition of fictitious data in customers' databases may present missing information, out-of-date data, and unverified information, which would make the organizations' operations difficult and inaccurate. The fact that customer data is complex, it would be challenging to invent strategies to manage the data. Customers would be disappointed with the operational results as they try to consult for the wrong transactions made. Customer loyalty would be lost because of the belief that the organization is mishandling and mismanaging clients' information. The operation of the fictitious data would always result in information errors, which would give a poor impression to clients. If the poor data handling went out to the public, it would have a broader perception, restricting potential revenue. Correcting the fictitious data would be costly and time-consuming for the organization. Experts would be needed to identify the technique to correct the data within the shortest time possible.
Individuals Held Responsible for the State of Oklahoma Data Breach and Business Risks Associated With Database Security
Currently, there exist numerous database breaches in multiple organizations due to staff’s negligence or incompetence. The State of Oklahoma data breach is one of the cases that shock the citizens. The exposed server had terabytes of confidential government data as well as data allied to FBI investigations. Individuals held responsible for the breach were staff working in the Oklahoma Department of securities (Ellis, 2020). The staff in this department negligently misconfigured a new firewall with the aid of a consultant. After noting the data breach, the department failed to report it on time, making valuable evidence being lost. There are numerous business risks linked to database security. Activities such as data sharing, employee data theft, excessive data access, and phishing emails threaten business database security. Database insecurities may make a business experience loss of essential financial information, clients' details, unproven transactions, and deletion of vital data significant to organizational growth and progress.
References
Ellis, R. (2020, March 12). Oklahoma Accused of Negligence in Massive Data Breach . Retrieved from https://www.governing.com/security/oklahoma-accused-of-negligence-in-massive-data-breach.html
Ghani, F. A., Shabri, S. M., Rasli, M. A. M., Razali, N. A., & Shuffri, E. H. A. (2020). An Overview of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA): Problems and Solutions. Global Business & Management Research , 12 (4).
Xu, G., Li, H., Ren, H., Yang, K., & Deng, R. H. (2019). Data security issues in deep learning: attacks, countermeasures, and opportunities. IEEE Communications Magazine , 57 (11), 116-122.
Zhang, D. (2018, October). Big data security and privacy protection. In 8th International Conference on Management and Computer Science (ICMCS 2018) (pp. 275-278). Atlantis Press.
