Sensitive information includes data whose exposure can enable identity theft, fraud, privacy violations, or targeted cyberattacks.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Sensitive information is data whose unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or loss could harm people, organizations, or public interests. It can include personal identifiers, authentication secrets, financial and health records, proprietary business data, and information protected by law or contractual duty. Sensitivity depends on context: a data set may be restricted because of privacy obligations, competitive value, safety concerns, or national-security classification.
For security practitioners, the key issue is controlling the data throughout its lifecycle—from collection and use to storage, sharing, archiving, and deletion. Excessive privileges, exposed databases, insecure transfers, application logs, backups, and compromised accounts can all reveal sensitive data. Useful controls include data classification, least-privilege access, strong authentication, encryption in transit and at rest, retention limits, and monitoring for inappropriate access or transfer. A suspected exposure requires identifying what data was affected, preserving relevant evidence, containing access, and assessing privacy or regulatory notification duties.
Navia Benefit Solutions, Inc. (Navia) is informing nearly 2.7 million individuals of a data breach that exposed their sensitive information to attackers. [...]
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new malware dubbed Speagle that hijacks the functionality and infrastructure of a legitimate program called Cobra DocGuard
A new Android malware called Perseus is checking user-curated notes to steal sensitive information, like passwords, recovery phrases, or financial data. [...]
Researchers map full org chart of the scam from dodgy recruiters to helpful Western collaborators Researchers at IBM X‑Force and Flare Research have uncovered data that sheds light on how North Korea's fake IT worker schemes operate and infiltrate companies in order to funnel money back to the regime and steal sensitive information.…
Cancer research and treatment innovation - and the tech that powers that - requires a great deal of collaboration and data sharing among multiple parties. But keeping that sensitive information secure and private is crucial - and requires adherence to standards, said Baxter Lee of Clearwater.