Exposed Databases Are as Bad as Data Breaches
A review of some of the most significant data breaches from the past year reveals that many resulted not because of a hacker having to apply exceptional technical prowess to infiltrate a system but as a consequence of an administrator having left the information sitting on the Internet by mistake. The problem is pervasive, according to Chris Vickery, a researcher at security company UpGuard who tracks database exposures. "It is the ugly elephant in the room that every security professional knows about, but doesn't want to talk about," he said.