According to Gemalto’s 2017 Breach Level Index Report, publicly reported data breaches compromised more than 2.5 billion data records as a result of 1,765 security incidents throughout the year. North America made up the bulk of these incidents at 1,514 security events, or 86 percent of the total. The Asia/Pacific region had just 113 incidents.
Although the findings from the Breach Level Index 2017 report shows a greater number of data breaches incident in the West, that doesn’t mean security incidents in other parts of the world don’t make news. Take Singapore, for instance. With just 10 security incidents reported in 2017, this island city-state made global headlines in July 2018 with the discovery of a data breach at SingHealth. This security incident, which was discovered just months after the Singapore Cybersecurity Act entered into force, exposed the personal information of 1.5 million people. That’s more than a quarter of the country’s entire population. Among those affected by the breach is the Prime Minister, who had his personal details and medicine records “specifically and repeatedly targeted.”
Following the announcement of this data breach, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore issued precautionary measures, urging all Critical Information Infrastructure sectors to tighten their security. These measures include removing all connections to unsecured external networks, mediating open connections through unidirectional gateways and implementing a secure information gateway to prevent leakage of sensitive information using encryption technology.
Fortunately, enterprises can protect themselves against data breaches by investing in solutions that ensure the security of their data in case perimeter defenses are compromised. Gemalto’s portfolio of SafeNet data protection solutions, which includes data encryption, encryption key management and hardware security modules, enable organizations to secure sensitive data in databases, applications, storage systems, virtualized platforms, cloud environments, and across networks.
For additional data security assistance, Gemalto invites security professionals and executives to stop by Booth No. K18 at GovWare 2018, a well-known digital security conference that marks the cornerstone of Singapore International Cyber Week. The event features more than 100 speakers as well as more than 100 exhibitors and sponsors.
Those who visit Booth No. K18 at GovWare 2018 will learn more about how to “Secure the Breach” and keep their organization out of the headlines. Gemalto will explain this approach with a once-a-day Breach Level Index and “Secure the Breach” presentation along with demonstrations of its encryption and key management solutions. Anyone who stops by also has a chance to win multiple prizes and gifts including JBL wireless headphones, Starbucks vouchers and more.
Registration information for GovWare 2018 is available here.
