Data diddling
Data diddling definition
Data diddling is a cybercrime where a person intentionally enters wrong information into a computer, system, or document. It is often used when businesses and individuals want to hide part of their profits for tax evasion purposes. It could also be used to do the opposite — fabricate the average order value or the number of sales to make it look like the business has more customers than it really does. This is done to get a better loan proposal from the bank.
If a business owner wants to bring their competitors down, they can also use this technique to cause damage to someone’s company or its reputation. Data diddling can be performed by someone whose job it is to enter the data or remotely by hacking the system or using malware to automatically change input data.
While most cybercrime involves compromising or stealing data that has already been entered, data diddling refers to compromising raw data at the entry point, just before it is processed by a computer or a system.
Protection from data diddling
- To protect themselves from data diddling, businesses should use antivirus software to guard their networks, systems, and devices from viruses.
- It’s essential to have proper training and access management protocols in place to minimize insider threats.
- Managing sensitive financial information should require additional authentication where more than one person’s approval is necessary for making changes or inputting important data.