General Electric (GE) announced recently that a breach at one of its service providers, Canon Business Process Services, resulted in exposure of confidential information on former and current GE employees, along with other company beneficiaries.

At Galaxkey, we understand that securing personal and sensitive information is a major role of cybersecurity. From safeguarding confidential company transactions and staff details, to remaining compliant with regulations like GDPR, our innovative security platform assists organisations and enterprises in avoiding incidents like the Canon data breach.

Unauthorised access to emails

Email accounts can be a Pandora’s box when it comes to company confidential information. What seems like an invaluable tool to recall important information when you require it can quickly become a storehouse of sensitive data when penetrated.

Following the recent incident, GE took steps to to notify all parties affected of the information breach and explain what they should do next, advising:

“We were notified on February 28, 2020 that Canon had determined that, between approximately February 3 – 14, 2020, an unauthorised party gained access to an email account that contained documents of certain GE employees, former employees and beneficiaries entitled to benefits that were maintained on Canon’s systems.”

Galaxkey provides users with comprehensive three-layer encryption, which means that whether your emails are being sent, stored or backed up on a server, they are always full protected. If an unauthorised individual manages to infiltrate your company server or an employee user account, they will not be able to access any sensitive information contained in messages.

Ensuring documents always stay secure

The sensitive GE data exposed in the Canon data breach included a wide range of content and documents that could easily be exploited by hackers for financial crime, identity theft and to penetrate the multinational conglomerate’s infrastructure deeper. Information contained in the hacked email account comprised social security numbers, names, addresses, dates of birth, passport numbers and bank account details. The documents attached and stored included driving licences, birth certificates and passports, as well as applications for retirement, severance, and death benefits.

While GE’s systems were not affected by the breach directly, Canon is now offering financial help to all GE employees and former employees affected. All individuals who have been notified of the breach have been advised to make regular checks that their data is not being misused and observe their credit card statements closely. It is still not confirmed precisely how many individuals the breach will have an impact on.

Galaxkey protects any documents sent using email so that only the sender and the intended recipient can ever view the sensitive information attached. No passwords or keys are ever stored on the system, ensuring they can’t be stolen and authentication is required so that users can be certain only those with authorised access can view confidential data and validate the source of information they receive.

Contact our specialist team today and protect your confidential emails and documents with the Galaxkey secure platform.