Keeping Safe: How To Protect Your Company's Data
By Grace Murphy
In this digital age, companies are becoming increasingly more serious about protecting their data. Implementing strategies and tactics to protect sensitive information, will allow companies to protect their customers from fraud and identity theft. It also will help to safeguard the reputation of their firm.
As technology advances, hackers are finding new ways to harm businesses ranging from fake calls and invoices to sending unsolicited products. For any business, regardless of size or industry, it is crucial to protect your company’s data. Failure to do so can be costly to your company, in more ways than just financially.
Whilst implementing security measures to protect your company’s data might be time-consuming and, at times, a costly process, it will help in protecting your business in the long term. These are just a selection of ways you can protect your company’s data.
Remain Updated With Cybersecurity
As the world becomes increasingly technology-dependent, there are various cybersecurity programs to help protect businesses, regardless of size, from malware and other potential threats. It is something worth considering so that your company can secure your network and every device on it. Whilst the costs may sound like an investment, it will be worth it as a breach could be even more costly to the business. Not just financially, but also to the overall reputation of the company. After implementing a cybersecurity program, ensure that all updates are installed immediately.
Implementing Firm Employment Agreements
In each job contract created, include text that forbids the employee from sharing certain types of information with others. Each time an employee shares information, they are transmitting data through a channel, even if it is highly secure, could still potentially be breached. If this sensitive information is not shared originally, nobody will be able to access it.
Look For Areas Of Weakness
There may be areas in the business that need improving, many of which are overlooked. There might be elements of the software or system that your company uses that have gaps and bugs. These weaknesses could easily be exploited by potential malicious hackers who have a desire to cause the greatest possible amount of havoc in a short space of time.
To prevent this from occurring, you may want to undergo rigorous testing to uncover any potential issues that could be manipulated by hackers. For instance, you might want to conduct a fuzz test to identify any memory leaks and crashes within your systems. Very few will understand what the term fuzzing means. Fortunately, this guide goes into great detail and answers the question: what is fuzzing? In short, it is a unique security testing technique that has proven to be incredibly effective over the years. It can reveal serious defects that are overlooked when software is being written and debugged.
Encrypt Your Data For Protection
From small businesses to large enterprises, securing data within the corporate network is important for all organizations by now. For many, they have already adopted various security measures to prevent any unauthorized access to their data in rest. However, there should be an equal security measure for protecting the data in motion. The sensitive data in motion is accessible by various people and applications, as such, it needs to be encrypted for secure data networking.
Planning Your Responses
Whilst you will put all measures in place to ensure that a data breach does not occur, it is equally as important to put procedures in place in the event it does occur. In the event of a worst-case scenario, understand how your company will respond to a security incident. Whether it be a minor data loss or a costly breach, ensure that your plan notifies the appropriate parties immediately. Depending on the information that was stolen, you might have to let both the customer and authorities know about the incident.
If a breach were to occur, disconnect and shut down any compromised computers and stop using any compromised programs immediately. It will help to prevent further breaches and losses from occurring. After the right parties have been notified and any gaps in the system closed, you should investigate the incident. Conduct an internal review to find out what went wrong. Alternatively, if you want an outsider's perspective, hire an agency to lead the investigation into what happened.
Spending time reviewing what went wrong, will help your company identify weaknesses in the business that need to be strengthened to prevent a breach from happening again in the future.
Enabling Maximum Protection
In previous years, preventable security issues have brought down countless small businesses. Whilst it is near impossible to eliminate the possibility of data breaches or fraud from occurring, putting the right security practices in place can reduce the likelihood and minimize the damage. All of which can protect the business's finances and reputation.
About The Author
Grace Murphy is an experienced reviewer and journalist dedicated to sharing updates from throughout the business market, as well as reviews on the products and services you want to hear about. Small businesses across the corporate market have relied on her insight and knowledge to drive them forward for years.