Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, has integrated digital technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), operational technology, and information technology into the heart of manufacturing.

The following is adapted from a conversation between Torq and Robbie Jakob-Whitworth, Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at Next DLP. Next DLP is a leading provider of insider risk and data protection solutions. Read on to learn how Robbie has used Torq Hyperautomation to automate alerts and reduce alert fatigue within his organization.

Organizations are increasingly concerned about high-profile employees’ information being exposed on the deep and dark web. The CrowdStrike Counter Adversary Operations team is often asked to find fake social media accounts and personally identifiable information (PII) that might be exposed. Impersonations and leaked PII can unravel lives and ruin the reputations of individuals and their organizations.

As your business evolves to serve more users, your applications and infrastructure will generate an increasing volume of logs, which may contain sensitive data such as credit card numbers, IP addresses, and tokens. When you collect sensitive data, you may be subject to laws such as GDPR—which restricts the transfer of personal data across borders, and you may face legal consequences if this data is exposed outside your infrastructure.

Sensitive personal data is among the most valuable information attached to us; it’s so valuable that there are international regulations for its maintenance, storage, and management. It is data that contains essential details about us, like Social Security Numbers (SSNs), bank accounts, tax IDs, health insurance data, and all the other “unique-to-one” credentials.

With the growing dependence of businesses on digital platforms for storing and processing sensitive information, the threat of data exfiltration has become a pressing issue. The evolution of exfiltration techniques has given rise to threat actors who exploit insecure devices and engage in suspicious activities to steal valuable data. These activities often involve unauthorized physical access or social engineering attacks to obtain login credentials with malicious intent.

This is Part 7 in my ongoing project to cover 30 cybersecurity topics in 30 weekly blog posts. The full series can be found here. Far too many organizations place Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Data Protection at the bottom of their priority list due to the perceived difficulty in its deployment. When there are in fact some easy approaches to getting started with protecting your data.

Regardless of the industry, the risks associated with data loss are significant. Financial services, healthcare, government, technology, and many other fields – all rely heavily on sensitive data. The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports that the number of data compromises in the United States hit a record high of 1,802 in 2022. This emphasizes the alarming increase in data security incidents.