A concept on the agenda and directly related to security are protection gaps, surely on occasion you have wondered if your organization has them and what the reasons are. Protection breaches, also known as security breaches, are events in which a breach in security measures occurs and allows unauthorized access to sensitive systems, networks or data. We tell you all about protection gaps.

Types of protection gaps

Data protection is a major concern for organizations, and there are two types of gaps in this regard.

Availability gap

It refers to the durability of computer systems to ensure business productivity.

Protection gap

It relates to data loss. Most organizations perceive or believe that there is a gap between business unit expectations and what IT services can deliver.

In the hybrid cloud era, some cloud-hosted offerings are natively durable, meaning the availability gap could close in certain cases. However, the protection gap is still relevant in both cloud services and data centers, as most cloud service providers do not back up their subscribers’ data.

Main reasons for protection gaps

Protection gaps can be caused by various factors. It is important to note that these reasons may be interrelated and that protection gaps often result from a combination of factors. To ensure adequate protection, it is essential to implement comprehensive security measures that address these aspects and stay up-to-date to deal with new threats that may emerge.

Below are some of the main reasons that can lead to these gaps:

Backup configuration, management, and vulnerabilities

One of the main reasons to change your primary backup solution is to improve reliability. Flexibility and choice of methodology are also important considerations. Saving money is not a determining factor if functionality does not improve. Guaranteed reliability and flexibility of choice are key requirements due to concerns about ransomware and the native durability of some cloud services.

The integration of data protection into cyber preparedness is considered crucial. In addition, backup should be part of a comprehensive IT strategy and integrated into a systems management framework. The capabilities of moving workloads from one cloud to another are also valued.

Software and hardware vulnerabilities

On the other hand, ransomware has been the most common cause of outages in recent years, highlighting the importance of preparing for it. However, outages caused by other factors such as network, application, hardware, and operating system failures are also common. Therefore, data protection strategies must address both technical failures and human-caused events.

Although adopting cloud services can improve availability, unexpected outages still occur. About one in four servers experienced an outage in the past year. As organizations adopt more resilient cloud services, outages and availability issues are expected to decrease, but there are still concerns related to long-term data protection and older versions.

These along with many others are the two main and perhaps most relevant reasons in the causes why security breaches occur in companies. It is important to note that security is an ongoing process and requires a combination of technical measures, user training, and a strong security culture to minimize the risk of breaches.