A few years ago, when people spoke about cyber attacks, the first question was usually:

“Did they encrypt the servers?”

Today, that question is becoming less relevant.

The new question is:

“𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲?”

The alleged Nintendo breach is another reminder of how cybercrime is evolving.

According to reports, the attackers are not talking about disrupting operations or locking systems. Instead, they claim to have accessed years of employee-related information, internal surveys, workplace feedback, and performance data, and are demanding a ransom to prevent its release.

That should concern every organization.

Because data is no longer just information.

It is reputation.

It is trust.

It is employee confidence.

It is business value.

The reality is that many organizations have invested heavily in protecting infrastructure, networks, and applications. Yet sensitive internal information often remains scattered across HR platforms, collaboration tools, surveys, shared drives, and SaaS applications.

And attackers know it.

Increasingly, cyber extortion is shifting from “𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀” to “𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘀.”

As security leaders, our challenge is no longer limited to preventing breaches.
It is understanding what happens if the data leaves the building.
The organizations that will be most resilient tomorrow are the ones that treat data protection, governance, and cyber resilience as business priorities rather than security projects.

The question every board should ask today is:

𝗜𝗳 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁?