These days, most businesses are data driven, and your accumulated information can be worth its weight in gold if used properly. Many businesses can’t even function without data. But just as your data is valuable to you, it’s a treasure trove for hackers and bad actors. Even if your business is a small one, they know that they can find information they can sell – even if that’s only a matter of selling it back to you. Either way, you’d be in trouble! Use these methods to protect your data assets and enjoy greater peace of mind.
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1. Choose Effective Security Software
The most simple way to guard against malicious software that steals your information is to use up-to-date security software. Its makers are constantly on the lookout for new threats and they update their products to identify and counter them. But this is just your first layer of protection.
2. Encrypt and Back Up
Cloud-based storage is much safer than on-site data storage, and encryption is the key to its safety. There are different times in the data transfer process when data can be encrypted, and the safest of all is to ensure that data is encrypted before data transfer begins. But guard your key! Remember, anyone who has the key has access to your data too.
3. Guard Against Internal Threats
No matter how trustworthy your staff is, staff members can make mistakes that put your data at risk. And if an employee is disaffected for one reason or another, they can wreak havoc on your valuable data.
Backing it up is helpful, but you need more than that. It’s accepted practice to only give users access to the data they need to do their jobs, and when sensitive data is included in this, they need training in how to keep it safe and secure. For example, they should never access their accounts using public Wifi.
4. Undergo a Data Security Audit
With your data having so much value, it’s worth having a data security audit done. Choose a company that specialises in cybersecurity and have them comb through your system in search of weaknesses. Consider all the years in which you’ve been accumulating data. Is all of it safe? Do you even know where it is? Experts can help you with the answers as well as the solutions you need to implement to keep everything safe.
5. Have a Disaster Recovery Plan
No matter what the source of the disaster is, there’s a small chance that you might find yourself in the middle of one. What will you do? How can you get your business back up and running fast? Without a plan, recovery will take much longer. Get expert help to devise a contingency plan that you can implement if, for any reason, you lose or can’t access your business’s data. Make sure that everyone in your business knows the drill. If the worst comes to the worst, you can still get back on your feet!
Data isn’t just a valuable asset, it’s also a massive responsibility, especially when it comes to customer information you’ve stored. Implement effective security measures to keep your business safe and on the right side of data privacy laws.
