Employee-level awareness key for companies to protect against cyberattacks, says expert

Given all this, how does a company secure its data? Rockstar Games, perhaps, could have benefited by following the zero-trust philosophy, but there really isn't any single way to keep yourself safe when hackers are becoming bolder and more innovative.

According to Kunal Bajaj, Chief Business Officer at eSec Forte Technologies, the most basic way to protect data is by raising awareness among a company's employees.

"Companies the world over are encouraging their employees to be cautious of potential threats which may target the endpoints. Ways to do this is by deploying effective end-point security, mobile security controls, user behaviour analysis and more," Bajaj said.

He added, in addition to all these, many companies are integrating flexible technologies and modular approaches so as to reduce exposure and decrease reaction time.

In Rockstar's case, the hack was a simple case of data theft, even though the hacker, who went by "Tea Pot", told Rockstar they were ready to negotiate, failing which they would release the game's source code.

Bajaj continued, a weak framework on cybersecurity often leads to instances of data theft. In Rockstar's case, the hacker accessed an unsecured Slack channel and got an employee to share secure access credentials.

"Organisations and individuals who are not serious about their privacy and data often fall prey to hackers and scammers," he elaborated. "Unprotected systems, weak passwords, and unawareness of cybersecurity laws are some other prominent factors that lead to data theft. In order to keep yourself safe from data theft, it is very essential to adopt a comprehensive data security policy, both as an individual and as an organisation," shared.

Another method to protect data is information security, Bajaj said. "Information security is a set of processes and tools that are deployed to protect sensitive information. But information security is a part of the cybersecurity framework and should not be used as a replacement for a wider and holistic cybersecurity," he added.