Natural disasters, trespassers, hackers, and mistakes made by people can all put your important data at risk. If you haven't taken the right steps to keep your data safe, your organization may have to pay the price.
A data breach or loss could hurt your business, and it might be hard or even impossible to get back on your feet after the disaster. Find out how to keep your business's data safe so that it can run smoothly and safely.
It was said that 60% of all security breaches in 2016 were done by people who worked for the company. This is bad news because it means that your employees could be the biggest threat to your data. Your staff could cause a data breach or loss on purpose or by accident. This could hurt your company's finances and reputation.
Because of this, you need to teach your employees how important data security is. Tell them how to keep important information safe, and give them regular cybersecurity courses and yearly refresher training. You could show them a cyber security blog and get them up to speed with what it means and why it is important.
We all know that you need to lock the front and back doors of your house to keep it safe, but many people leave their virtual "back doors" open to malware attacks without even realising it. You can help protect your company from these kinds of attacks, though, by doing a few things. You need to set up a firewall to stop malware from getting into your system without your knowledge. Malware can also get into your system through spam email, so cleaning out your inbox and getting rid of any possible threats is another good step.
You might think that because your business is small, you are not as big of a target, but the opposite is true. Small businesses are a big target because they usually have less security than big companies and are easier to steal from. By putting policies in place to protect your business, you can be proactive about keeping it safe online. Make sure you know which programmes can be used on company computers and other technology and which ones can't. You should also make your employees use strong passwords and teach them how to keep their email safe. You should always make sure your employees follow these rules so they know how important they are.
Another place where security can be broken is on social media. You need to talk to your employees about what they can and can't do on social media that affects your business. You should make sure that they know what information is private and that only a few people can speak for the company. You should also make sure that there are strict rules for any blogging done for the company. People will judge your business based on what people see on your social media accounts. This can have a huge effect on who buys from you and who stays away from you.
Everyone knows that strong passwords are important for keeping data safe. But you shouldn't use the same password for more than one system, because hackers will almost certainly try it on your other accounts. Using the same password might make it easier to remember them, but it can leave your business open to attacks. So, use different passwords and tell your staff to do the same.
Make it a habit to check your account authorizations. This will make sure that only the right people can see your sensitive information. You should also limit access for different employees so they can only use the information they need.
If you regularly check your authorization, you'll know who has access to the data and can quickly remove a user or figure out who did it after an internal breach.
If you delete a file, you might think it's gone for good, but you'd be wrong. The data will stay on a disc, which a skilled cybercriminal could easily get back. You must overwrite the important information if you want to make sure it is gone for good.
Installing a good spam filter on your email system will make sure you never fall for a clever email scam. Spammers have learned how to send emails that look like they are from real companies. You or one of your employees could fall for this one day. So, if you have good spam filters, suspicious emails will go straight to your junk folder.
