What is a data breach?
A data breach is sensitive data leaking to unauthorized parties — through attacks, misconfigurations, or plain negligence.
TL;DR
- A data breach is an event in which sensitive information — personal data, credentials, or internal documents — is accessed, copied, or disclosed to unauthorised parties.
- Common causes include exposed credentials, unpatched systems, phishing, and third-party compromise.
- Under UU PDP, personal data breaches carry notification duties and sanctions.
Short definition
A data breach is an event in which sensitive information such as personal data, credentials, or internal documents is accessed, copied, or disclosed to unauthorized parties.
What causes data breaches?
Data breaches have many causes: ransomware attacks, misconfigured databases, credentials stolen via phishing, and vendor negligence. Impacts include financial loss, regulatory sanctions, and lost customer trust.
In Indonesia, the PDP Law requires data controllers to announce personal data breaches within 3x24 hours to data subjects and the authority. Incident detection and reporting readiness is therefore a key part of risk management.
What are some practical examples?
- An online store's customer database is exposed due to a misconfigured cloud storage bucket.
- A hospital loses access to medical records after a ransomware attack.
- A vendor's leaked credentials are used to access a client's internal systems.
Learn more
Frequently asked questions
Related terms
Get your free security rating
Run a free CyberRank security rating for any organisation and see the same vendor risk signals our customers use.
Get your free security rating