- Cloud Protection
- Compliance
- Data Leak Prevention
- Bring your own device
- Copy protection
- Data access control
- Data at rest
- Data in transit
- Data in use
- Data leakage
- Data loss prevention
- Data security
- Data security posture management
- Data security breach
- Data theft
- File security
- Incident response
- Indicators of compromise
- Insider threat
- Ransomware attack
- USB blocker
- BadUSB
- USB drop attack
- Data Risk Assessment
- File Analysis
- File Audit
- Threat Glossary
Data theft
Key takeaways
- Data theft is the illegal acquisition of an organization’s digital information for financial gain or to disrupt it's operation, often carried out by hackers or malicious insiders targeting corporate systems.
- Data theft can stem from both trusted insiders misusing access and external attackers exploiting security gaps.
- Organizations of all sizes and across all regions are potential targets of data theft.
- The most frequently targeted categories of data include financial, corporate, and personal data.
- Data theft can have severe consequences, including operational downtime, reputational damage, and regulatory penalties.
- Preventing data theft involves discovering data at rest, assessing who has access to it and how it is being used, and controlling its unwarranted movement through email, external devices, and other channels.
What is data theft?
Data theft refers to the act of illegally obtaining digital information from an organization for financial gain or with the intent to sabotage the business' operations. Adversaries or even malicious employees can steal corporate data from secured file servers, database servers, cloud applications, or even from personal devices. There is a huge market for stolen personal data such as phone numbers, credit card information, work email addresses, and much more, which keeps malicious insiders and hackers motivated.
Data theft types
Data theft may be carried out by trusted insiders with authorized access or by external attackers who obtain unauthorized entry. Accordingly, it is categorized as insider-driven or outsider-driven.
Insider-driven data theft
Data theft can be carried out by malicious insiders who intentionally misuse their access to steal sensitive information through removable media, email, or unauthorized file transfers. In addition to malicious intent, negligent or careless employees are a leading cause of data breaches. These incidents often occur when users fall victim to phishing attacks, interact with malicious emails, or leave systems and servers unsecured or misconfigured.
Outsider-driven data theft
External attackers exploit weaknesses such as outdated security controls, unpatched vulnerabilities, and misconfigured cloud resources. Common attack techniques include ransomware, malvertising, man-in-the-middle attacks, and other methods designed to gain unauthorized access to an organization’s network and data.
Data theft examples
Check out the top eight data breaches in recent history where millions of customers' personal data was exposed and the organizations faced severe backlash.
| Victim | Date | Impact | Origin/cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAM4 | March 2020 | 10.88 billion records stolen | An employee misconfigured the Elasticsearch production database, leaving it vulnerable. |
| Yahoo | October 2017 | 3 billion records stolen | A phishing scheme was used by the perpetrators to gain access to Yahoo's network. |
| Indian government (Aadhaar data leak) | March 2018 | 1.1 billion records stolen | India's national ID database was left exposed when a state-owned utility company left its network unsecured. |
| June 2021 | 700 million records stolen | A hacker named God User scraped the data by exploiting LinkedIn's API. The data was put up for sale on the dark web. | |
| Marriott (Starwood) | November 2018 | 383 million records stolen | Hackers probed and infiltrated Marriott's reservation system to steal customer data. |
| Myspace | June 2013 | 360 million records stolen | Perpetrators obtained user data by taking advantage of the obsolete password protection system that used unsalted SHA-1 hashes. |
| SocialArks | January 2021 | 214 million records stolen | A misconfigured Elasticsearch database left the server exposed online, leaving customer data without password or encryption protection. |
| Equifax | September 2017 | 148 million records stolen | Hackers exploited an unpatched vulnerability dubbed CVE-2017-5638 to hack into Equifax's customer complaint web portal. |
Various forms of data theft
Data theft is highly targeted; attackers specifically seek out high-value assets that can be leveraged for financial gain, extortion, or competitive advantage. Most enterprise breaches involve one or more of the following three categories: financial data theft, personal data theft, or corporate data theft.
| Form | Definition | What is at risk? | Consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial data theft | Financial data theft is the most frequent type of cyberattack, characterized by the pursuit of immediate liquidity. Cybercriminals target data that provides a direct path to an organization's funds or its customers' funds. | Credit card numbers, bank account details, online payment credentials, and tax records. | Organizations suffer from direct capital loss, fraudulent transactions, and heavy fines for failing to meet PCI DSS standards. |
| Personal data theft | Personal data theft targets personally identifiable information (PII). Because this data remains "evergreen" (unlike a credit card that can be canceled), it is a high-value commodity on dark web marketplaces for identity theft. | Protected health information (PHI)—which includes Social Security numbers, healthcare records, and biometric data—as well as other PII like home addresses. | This results in a massive breach of consumer trust and triggers stringent legal penalties under global privacy mandates like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA. |
| Corporate data theft | Corporate data theft—often referred to as industrial espionage—involves the theft of a company's "crown jewels." These attacks are often carried out by sophisticated external actors or malicious insiders. | ntellectual property (IP), trade secrets, proprietary algorithms, and strategic M&A (merger and acquisition) documents. | The damage is often long-term and irreparable, leading to a loss of competitive advantage, devalued patents, and a weakened market position |
Impact of data theft
All data theft has devastating consequences. It leaves severe financial, operational, and reputational scars on a business. Most businesses that fall prey to data theft experience:
- Crippling compliance penalties Most data theft exposes the organization's non-compliance to data security mandates. Data protection authorities like those overseeing GDPR and HIPAA compliance penalize such negligence with steep fines.
- Loss of reputation Customers tend to lose trust in organizations that fall victim to data theft attempts. The damage to the brand name will last and it might take years for the organization to rebuild.
- Operational downtime Most organizations will go into damage control mode following data theft, bringing routine operations to a standstill until the damage is fully analyzed. This loss of productivity can result in huge financial repercussions.
- Prolonged forensic analysis Data theft is immediately followed by an in-depth forensic investigation by the organization looking into the origin of the breach, its impact, and more.
How to prevent data theft
Here are the most common best practices that an organization needs to exercise to reduce the risk of data theft.
- Discover and classify data: The first step in any prevention strategy is identifying and labeling sensitive information. Automated data classification allows you to categorize files into financial, personal, and corporate tiers so that security policies can be applied based on the actual value and sensitivity of the data.
- Enforce strict access controls : Restricting data access is essential for minimizing the attack surface. By implementing the principle of least privilege (PoLP), you ensure that users are only granted access to the specific files and folders necessary for their job functions, preventing unauthorized movement of sensitive data.
- Audit and monitor user activity : Continuous visibility into file interactions is the most effective way to catch a theft in progress. Monitoring user activity allows security teams to track who is accessing, modifying, or moving data in real time, enabling them to flag and investigate anomalous behavior instantly.
- Track external device usage: Physical exit points like USB ports are high-risk channels for data exfiltration. Organizations must track and monitor all external devices connected to endpoints and block unauthorized hardware to ensure that proprietary data cannot be copied onto portable storage.
- Scrutinize email attachments and web uploads : The most common paths for data to leave an organization are through email communication and web tools. Monitoring email attachments and file uploads for sensitive content ensures that confidential information is not accidentally or maliciously shared via webmail or cloud storage.
- Strenghten login and identity security : Strong authentication serves as the primary barrier against credential theft. Implementing robust login controls, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), ensures that even if a user's password is compromised, an attacker cannot easily enter the network to steal data.
- Restrict the use of unauthorized applications : Unverified software and shadow IT can create backdoors for data exfiltration. By preventing users from accessing unsafe applications or unauthorized file-sharing platforms, you keep sensitive corporate data within the secure and governed environment.
Data theft protection with DataSecurity Plus
ManageEngine DataSecurity Plus is a unified data visibility and security platform that helps secure your business-critical data from theft and exposure attempts. The below capabilities illustrate how to prevent data theft by employees using DataSecurity Plus.
- Restrict the use of suspicious devices and block write access to USB devices to prevent unwarranted transfers using our USB data theft protection software.
- Find and block the movement of business-critical files as attachments via email clients (Outlook).
- Block file copy actions across local and shared folders with the help of copy protection software.
- Detect and stop potential ransomware attacks instantly by shutting down the infected device and disconnecting the rogue user's session.
Try out the above functions and more using our 30-day, fully functional, free trial.
Download your free trialFrequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What happens if someone steals my organization's data?
If someone steals your organization’s data, it can result in direct financial loss, regulatory fines, legal liabilities, and operational disruption. Stolen customer or employee data may be used for fraud, identity theft, phishing attacks, or sold on underground markets, leading to lasting reputational damage and loss of trust.
2. How can I detect data theft?
Data theft can be detected by continuously monitoring data access and movement across your environment. Key practices include:
- Tracking unusual data access patterns, such as large or abnormal downloads
- Monitoring file transfers to external devices, personal email, or cloud apps
- Detecting suspicious login activity or access from unfamiliar locations
- Using data loss prevention (DLP) and user activity monitoring tools
- Setting alerts for policy violations involving sensitive data
Early detection depends on strong visibility into who is accessing data, how it is being used, and where it is being transferred.
3. How does data theft happen?
Data theft occurs when sensitive information is accessed and exfiltrated without authorization. This can happen through insider misuse of legitimate access, phishing and social engineering attacks, malware or ransomware infections, exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities, weak passwords, misconfigured cloud storage, or unsecured devices and networks.
4. How is data theft different from identity theft?
Data theft refers to the unauthorized acquisition of sensitive information from an organization, such as customer records or financial data, while identity theft occurs when stolen personal information is used to impersonate someone for fraud or financial gain. In short, data theft is the act of stealing data, whereas identity theft is the misuse of personal data to commit fraud.
5. Which data is susceptible to theft?
Data subject to theft includes personally identifiable information (PII) such as names, contact details, and financial records; corporate data such as intellectual property, trade secrets, and strategic plans; authentication data such as passwords and access keys; and operational data stored across endpoints, servers, and cloud applications.