About Thawte

• Contact Us
• Worldwide Sites
• Why Thawte

Data security remains a global concern, with nations around the world struggling to prevent major network breaches. The truth of the matter is that threats continue to mount for any organization regardless of size, industry or location. Defending against the pervasive specter of cybercrime requires decision-makers to make a concerted effort to adhere to data security best practices and identify any lingering vulnerabilities in their systems. It can be easy for people to believe that a costly breach will never hit them or their companies, but major network invasions happen all the time. For many industries, such an event could completely derail the operations of their members.

One only needs to look at recent events that have transpired in South Korea to see the potential breadth of a cyberattack. Threatpost reported that a data breach in that nation may have affected as much as 70 percent of the population, putting countless records and personal files at risk. All told, information belonging to 27 million people may have fallen into the hands of hackers. According South Korean law enforcement officials, a cybercriminal stole approximately 220 million records from various websites and subsequently sold them to another party. That individual, along with several others, proceeded to disseminate that information for profit.

Avoid costly breach fallout
A breach of this scale demonstrates how feasible it is for hackers to invade an organization's network and access highly sensitive information. When such incidents occur, both victimized companies and their customers suffer. Consumers who lose their records to cybercriminals may see their information used to commit identity theft or fraud. It could take years for an individual to recover from these types of crimes. From the organization's perspective, the breach itself may not present much of a financial loss, but the ensuing fallout could be crippling. Once the public gets wind of the incident, formerly loyal clients may turn against the victim, blaming it for putting their personal data at risk. If that happens, it could be extremely difficult to rebuild trust with an organization's customer base.

A California-based healthcare provider is the latest business to feel the wrath of its clients following a breach. FOX affiliate KSWB-TV reported that numerous patient records were stolen from the hospital, prompting administrators to notify potentially affected parties via mail. One patient expressed her frustration not only with the breach, but with the hospital's response, noting that approximately three weeks elapsed between the event and the distribution of notification letters.

The concern with a breach of any size is that clients will blame the victim and choose to work with another organization instead. The best way to prevent this from happening is to make customer or patient data virtually impenetrable through encryption. It will be extremely difficult for even the savviest hackers to make sense of an encrypted file. These types of protection need to extend to both information that is at rest and in transit. Once an unauthorized user has breached an organization's network, he or she could intercept transmissions containing sensitive information. With an SSL certificate, in-transit data can be encrypted, effectively preventing hackers from accessing the information contained within a file.

Prevent a costly data breach with SSL certificates today.

corporate office

Thawte
The Gateway
Century Lane
Century City, 7441
Cape Town
South Africa

Postal Address:
P O Box 15986
Panorama 7500
Cape Town
South Africa

Call: +353 1 793 9141
Fax: +27 21 819 2950