The security of your business data is an important area of concern for every small-business owner. When you consider all the important data you store virtually -- from financial records, to customers' private information -- it's not hard to see why one breach could seriously damage your business.
Unfortunately, data is always going to be under threat of theft —from personal information, financial records, intellectual property, or whatever is deemed to be valuable and useful.
All businesses need to ensure their data is protected as much as possible from theft. Vulnerable areas include your network, computers and mobile devices.
However, security is only part of your complete protection. It’s vital that you also implement a proper backup and disaster recovery strategy to protect your business in the event of a natural disaster occurring (fire, flood etc.), or through human error.
Here are seven simple things you can do to protect your business data:
1. Conduct a security audit.
If you don’t know what parts of your business are vulnerable or what data you have that needs to be protected, you can’t properly secure it. It is critical that you work with a professional to audit your entire IT infrastructure—computers, network, and mobile devices—to determine what you need to do to prevent hackers from accessing your network.
2. Make staff aware of the important role they play in security.
Your staff are your front line of defence when it comes to security. Of course, data hackers can infiltrate your network remotely and siphon off data without setting foot in your office. However, vigilant employees can ensure that human error—which is a big cause of data security breaches—is minimised.
3. Use strong and multiple passwords.
Too many of us use simple passwords that are easy for hackers to guess. When we have complicated passwords, a simple “dictionary attack”—an attack by a hacker using an automated tool that uses a combination of dictionary words and numbers to crack passwords—can’t happen. Don’t write passwords down; commit them to memory.
4. Encrypt your data.
Encryption is a great security tool to use in case your data is stolen. For example, if your hard disk is stolen or you lose your USB drive, whoever accesses the data won’t be able to read it if it’s encrypted.
5. Back up and disaster recovery.
Ensure that your data is properly backed up, and that it is being backed up regularly enough e.g. if you have 10 employees and you only back up once a week that is 10 weeks-worth of data you will need to re-input.
6. Have security policies.
It’s one thing to ask employees to work securely, but you must also have clear and simple policies in place for them to follow to ensure that they are working in a secure environment. For example, insist that all notebook computers connected to the corporate network have security software. Mandate that NO security information ever be given over the phone. Policies like this and more will help ensure that your staff are doing their part to be security aware.
7. Protect your mobile work force.
We now live in an ‘always on, always connected’ society. Working over public networks such as coffee shops or free networks in the park are not secure. It is important to ensure that employees are working in as secure environment as possible at all times.
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