Cyberattacks on data happen more often than ever. With so many devices connected to the internet, it’s no surprise this is the case. Reports show that an attack happens once every 39 seconds.
If you want to secure your data, you can’t afford to take half-measures.
It should be one of your top business priorities to protect data. Follow the guidance below to learn how to secure business data and put systems in place to recover it if you ever lose anything.
Control Access to Data
The first step to protecting business data is to control who has access to the information. Giving everyone access is tempting—you have an easy-to-manage IT infrastructure that doesn’t require access control software to manage.
But this also exposes your data to more risk. What happens when someone compromises their workstation? If they have access to your business’s data, you risk losing everything.
Include access control in your data management strategy. Doing this limits your exposure to cyber threats since attackers won’t have access to all your company information.
Lock Down Your Accounts
Although you can provide a lot of security by controlling access to data, that doesn’t mean you want to take account security lightly. The data your employees have access to should still have protection.
For starters, require a strong password policy. Create a password strength requirement of at least eight characters and special characters. Additionally, have your team make separate passwords for each account—they can use password managers if they can’t remember each one.
The next thing to do is to set up two-factor authentication on your accounts. This authentication method will send a secondary code to an authentication application. It will protect you in case any passwords become compromised.
Use Anti-Malware
Malware is one of the most common cyber threats out there. It’s common for employees and business owners to accidentally open dangerous files that slip onto their computers. Those files will steal information, delete data, log information, and spread it to other devices.
In other cases, you’ll become infected by Ransomware. Your files get locked with encryption and require a cryptocurrency payment to unlock. If you can’t afford to pay, your business will be out of luck and need to rebuild from scratch.
Anti-malware can prevent many of these situations. The malware definitions provided can detect and remove malicious software before any damage occurs. Just be sure to schedule regular updates to keep your malware definitions updated.
Set Up Encryption
Much of your data will not be used on a hard drive. It’s only available in the applications and servers when employees need it.
There’s no reason for that data to be visible in that situation. Anyone with access to a server can view it without restriction.
Encrypt data at rest. Doing this will lock down data and make it gibberish to anyone that views it without the encryption key. There is a lot of software available that will easily do this.
The programs and access management software you use can help you manage this task.
Use a VPN
There may be times when your team will work out of the office—especially with the rise of remote and hybrid work environments. People regularly work from home and in public locations these days.
There’s nothing wrong with this. However, it does open your company up to more risk. Since you can’t control the environment where work happens, your employees may accidentally open your company to attack.
A VPN will encrypt your workers’ connections. Anyone monitoring the internet traffic won’t be able to see what happens on encrypted devices—which means your team stays safe when working with company data remotely.
Segment Your Networks
In today’s world, you probably have people who bring their own devices to work. Most companies offer the ability to connect to WiFi for convenience. It’s fine to do this, but you have to do so carefully.
Don’t allow unknown devices on the same network segment as your critical data. You have zero control over those devices. If one of them is compromised, you risk your entire business if that device can see your critical systems.
A separate WiFi network is all you’ll need in most cases. Create one for your guests and employees to enjoy internet access at the office.
Schedule File Backups
You may be able to do a great job of putting security systems in place, but the chances are good that accidents will still happen. They can result from an employee making a mistake or your computer equipment failing.
But you can get back up and running quickly if you plan ahead. Do this by creating a schedule for file backups.
Note your most important company information and set it to back up on a schedule. Do this for every data source until you have a scheduled backup for every piece of data you own.
From there, you can restore critical information if something ever goes wrong. If you’re having trouble with your backup systems, this DRAAS provider may be able to help you recover your information.
Protect Data Without Delay
You have a lot on the line when you store business data. You need it to make smart business decisions, and your customers rely on you to protect the information you hold about them. The last thing you want is not to take data security seriously and open yourself up to a data breach.
But there are several steps you can take to protect data. Follow the advice above to beef up your IT security systems and give your data the protection it needs.
Are you interested in learning more about managing IT systems? Learn more by checking out the other business technology articles.
