Security breaches affecting some of the biggest businesses happen every day across the world. Instances of such attacks underscore the susceptibility of data and the inadequacy of robust security measures and strategies across organizations of varying sizes. Safeguarding your data is pivotal for the overall health and prosperity of your business, encompassing critical components like financial records, trade records, and employee records that necessitate protection.
If you have a breach affecting this information, it could ruin your reputation and leave a dent in your company’s finances. There are many ways you can enhance the security of your organization’s data. Here, we look at some essentials everyone needs to be familiar with to develop an effective data security strategy.
1. Don’t Focus on the Perimeter Alone
Putting emphasis on the walls around the data is a key focus in many organizations. A considerable portion of companies’ security budgets is allocated to constructing firewalls. Despite this, cybercriminals can employ various methods to circumvent these protective measures. Customers, employees, and suppliers are all a potential point of entry. All these people can get through external cyber security and access sensitive data. You need to ensure that you focus your security efforts on the data itself and not the perimeter.
2. Monitor Inside Threats
Many people assume all threats to data security originate from outside the organization. They may be bigger and more expensive to manage but attacks don’t always have to come from outside. On the contrary, people within the organization can potentially hurt your company even more.
Unlike external attacks, internal attacks are much harder to predict and prevent. An employee could log into their work computer and unleash a ransomware worm. These threats are the most common and the most expensive as they give access to the most critical organization data and infrastructure.
3. Train Your Employees
You can have the best data protection policy in your organization but it means nothing if even one member of your team does not follow it. You can reduce the risk and improve response times by training all employees on why data security is important and how they can help. Offer regular training sessions and up-to-date policy documents that can encourage staff to practice these guidelines. Certifications can ensure that your employees collaborate with other teams to build skills needed to become effective team members.
4. Limit Access Protocols by Employees
Even with proper training, human error is a vulnerability you cannot avoid. Human error is one of the most common causes of breaches and compliance failures. It could be because your employees are unaware of proper procedures or out of carelessness but you cannot completely avoid compliance risks whenever a human factor is involved. You can train your employees on the best practices but you need to go a step further and cut out the likelihood of mistakes.
Limiting employee access to data is a good way to do this. Determine which employees need access to which data and who monitors the access. Employees should only have access to data that is needed for their department. The fewer the number of people accessing specific data the lower the chances of mishandling.
5. Encrypt Your Devices
Guidelines on data privacy assert that organizations bear the responsibility of safeguarding sensitive customer data against unauthorized access. This involves not only adhering to requirements during data collection but also guaranteeing secure storage of the collected data.
No entity is impervious to data breaches, necessitating the assurance of the safety of all stored data. Employ robust passwords and integrate anti-malware tools to detect and thwart potential attacks proactively.
6. Conduct Regular Tests
If you think installing protection software on your IT infrastructure and setting strong passwords will protect your data, you’re in for a surprise. If recent data breaches are anything to go by, working with a professional organization to conduct a security audit will always show vulnerabilities and risks you weren’t even aware of. Even something as simple as an employee writing down a password and bringing their notebook home can start a domino effect culminating in financial losses and legal consequences.
7. Delete Data You No Longer Need
Every company has to deal with some sort of sensitive data in their daily operations. This is especially the case for companies in education, finance, and healthcare. Ensuring that you put in place effective disposal mechanisms helps prevent obsolete data from being forgotten about and stolen later. Create a system that can erase, shred, or modify redundant data to make it indecipherable so no one can access the information even if it were left behind.
8. Update Your Computers Regularly
Software companies often release updates to add new security features and improve the protection infrastructure on your computers. In some cases, previous versions are phased out by the manufacturers meaning they can no longer access the security patches. Updating your computers allows you to take advantage of the latest security updates. You can enable the auto download feature so it automatically downloads any new updates. If you ruin a large organization, you can create a centralized security update policy so every computer receives updates at the same time.
9. Don’t Forget About the Cloud
You may assume that your cloud services provider should take care of your cloud security but there is no guarantee they do. Invest in cloud security best practices and tools to improve your defenses. One thing you need to understand is the shared responsibility model which puts you in charge of the security for all data you store on the cloud. Ask your provider detailed questions to determine what they do to improve security.
Find out where their physical servers reside and the protocol they have in place for any security incidents. Should a breach or data loss occur, understanding the provider’s recovery plan is crucial to regain access to lost data. The extent of support they offer is equally vital, as you want assurance that a team of experts will be accessible to assist in addressing any potential threats.
Endnote
Data security is a key element in the modern business landscape especially with the growing number of cyber attacks. These nine tips will not prevent cyber attacks from happening but they will reduce the likelihood. They will also help you ensure that you are prepared enough and can recover after an attack without harming your business.
