Data breach

A data breach is an incident where unauthorized parties gain access to confidential or protected information. This can involve theft of personal data (names, emails, social security numbers), financial data (credit cards), intellectual property, or other sensitive records. Breaches often stem from hacking (credential compromise, exploitation), insider wrongdoing, or accidental misconfigurations (like open storage buckets).

How does it affect identity security?
Most breaches involve compromised credentials or insufficient access controls. Attackers often escalate privileges or pivot laterally once inside. Strengthening identity security (MFA, least privilege, timely deprovisioning) is a top way to prevent or contain breaches. Once data is stolen, consequences can include regulatory fines, reputational damage, and legal liabilities.

Cloud data breaches commonly arise from misconfigured IAM or poor secrets management. If an S3 bucket is accidentally public or an overprivileged role is compromised, huge volumes of data can be exfiltrated. Cloud providers encourage security best practices like restricting public access, using logging, and employing encryption with robust key management. 

By unifying identity governance across cloud resources, organizations can detect anomalies or quickly revoke compromised credentials. Automated compliance checks (e.g., AWS Config rules) also help spot insecure configurations.

Case study

Weak password hashing and unpatched vulnerabilities let attackers steal user data from Yahoo’s servers. Delayed disclosure and ineffective identity controls led to public backlash. The event underscored the scale of credential-based threats, shaping future identity security standards.

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