Data breaches happen all the time – millions of individuals are affected by data breaches each year, with the healthcare, finance, and manufacturing industries appearing most vulnerable. There’s no question that you need to take action to keep your company’s data safe. You also need to keep it easy to access.
Fortunately, you can do plenty to keep your company data safe while also keeping it convenient for daily use. Follow these tips to keep your company’s data safe and protect the privacy of your clients, customers, and employees.
Backup Data to the Cloud
One of the most useful things you can do for data connectivity in your business is use a cloud service for storing your data. Most enterprise cloud storage services provide security and regular software updates for their cloud services. Cloud storage can be a great alternative to servers or can serve as a backup for your servers in the event that they are compromised by an attack.
Be Careful with BYOD Policies
Lots of companies are saving money by implementing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies to encourage employees to use their own laptops, tablets, and smartphones for work. However, if your company handles sensitive data, this approach could be too risky. Think twice before you implement a BYOD policy. Employee devices could be infected with dangerous malware, and even if your IT team scans and cleans each employee device before it’s allowed to connect to your network, employees will still be taking their devices – and your data – off of company property and out into the world where it will be more vulnerable without the protection of your company firewall.
Encrypt All Your Data, All the Time
Determined hackers can bypass even the most secure systems. They may trick someone into giving out login credentials or other sensitive company data using a phishing scam. They may find a vulnerability in your security software that they can exploit – maybe even one that your own security team doesn’t know about.
Encryption stops hackers from being able to use data even if they get their hands on it. Data should be encrypted at rest and in transit so that hackers can’t read it with packet sniffers. Encrypt data both locally as well as on mobile devices that your employees might be using.
Install Updates as They Become Available
Updates keep your system secure because they typically include security patches for flaws in your operating system, firmware, and antivirus protection. Delaying software and system updates can make you vulnerable to cyberattacks. Make sure employees are downloading software updates for all software and operating systems as soon as they become available.
Properly Dispose of Old Data
If you don’t properly delete old data from hard drives and devices, it could fall into the wrong hands after you’ve disposed of it. Data needs to be deleted from storage media and devices using software that overwrites the data again and again, rendering it unrecoverable. Reformatting a disk or resetting a machine to factory settings does not permanently delete the data on it – that data can still be recovered with easy to get, free tools.
Place Limits on File Sharing
These days, you need to share files digitally to get any work done. But you should limit file sharing only to those who absolutely need the files, to minimize risk. If you share everything with everyone, you’re making that data accessible to any hacker able to break into your network. Limit who can access files and even programs based on who they are, where they are, what device they’re using, and what they’re doing with it.
Exercise Password Security
Using strong passwords is just good internet security. Make sure employees are using unique, hard-to-crack passwords and that they’re changing them regularly. For those who might have more passwords than they can easily remember, a password manager is in order.
Perform Background Checks
You should always be vigilant not just against external threats, but about those that come from within. Perform background checks on all new employees to try to weed out the kind of people who might steal company data for profit or recognition. Be mindful that existing employees might decide to take it out on the company if they become disgruntled.
Secure Your Wireless Network
Protect your network with a firewall to keep any malicious software from accessing your network, or sensitive data from getting out. Use the strongest encryption protocol your router provides, which is currently WPA3.
Be Prepared to Respond to Cyberattacks
It isn’t enough to fend off cyberattacks, because you can’t fend them all off. A solid response strategy will help you mitigate the damage when a data breach does occur. Prepare for the worst, so that if it happens, you can respond by isolating the compromised system or devices, notify customers and law enforcement, and bring in a security team to figure out what went wrong and try to fix it.
Data breaches are a fact of modern life, but you can protect your company and your customers. Just make security a priority, and you may be able to avoid the damage that a data breach can do.
