Late last year the Marriot Hotel chain suffered a massive data security breach. Hackers uncovered the name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, date of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation date, and communication preferences. For some, even payment card numbers and expiration dates were hacked.

They’re not alone. Yahoo, Facebook and LinkedIn are some of the larger names in tech that also experienced major cyber attacks threatening user information breaches. These sorts of attacks are growing exponentially in number and target businesses of all sizes and any individual who owns an electronic device. Security breaches have increased by 67% in the past five years.

The repercussions of a data breach are often more than just financial. Firstly there is the damage of reputation that companies like Marriot Hotel and Yahoo have had to face in the fallout of cyber attacks. In many cases, unfortunately, consumer confidence simply cannot be regained once a breach has occurred. It’s like telling a secret to your friend in class and finding out that secret has spread across your entire school. It’s not easy to trust that friend again.

Then comes the legal ramifications of a cyber attack. These punishments can vary from country to country and state to state, however, it is not uncommon for government fines, penalties and even jail time to be warranted.

When consumers willingly provide their information in your company’s database, they are doing so with a great deal of trust in your company to fulfil the duty to protect this data and keep it to themselves - just as if they were confiding in a friend.

Therefore, the onus is on the company to uphold their bargain and ensure that the technology and security measures are top-notch. Rittal Edge solutions are one of many technological innovations that help your business stay ahead of the game when it comes to cybersecurity.

By hosting your data in-house, you have full control and autonomy over who has physical and online access. As cyber attacks become more common, this helps to create a more secure network.

It’s not foolproof, and Edge technology is susceptible to surface-level network attacks, however, Edge computing distributes processing, applications and storage over a range of data centres and devices increasing the barrier of entry for network-based attacks significantly.