What is a Data Leak? Stop Giving Cybercriminals Free Access | UpGuard

This report provides an overview of data leaks—how they differ from breaches, common causes (cloud misconfigurations, operational errors, third‑party risk), types of exposed data (PII, PHI, trade secrets, analytics), examples of notable leaks (DSCC, Attunity, LocalBlox), typical exploitation methods (social engineering, doxxing, extortion), and mitigation controls (validate cloud configs, automate process controls, monitor third parties). It is a high‑level guidance document aimed at reducing leak risk rather than a technical incident or indicator report.