Top 11 Ways to Protect Your DataData RecoveryUpdated on Sep 24, 2017 View more like this | Visit LITTLETON, CO | Contact Colbatech Solutions, LLC |
Data breaches don’t just happen to big-name companies like Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus, or the most recent, Anthem. The big data breaches make headlines, however, the Small to Medium business markets (SMB) are also at risk. In today’s Internet connected world, it is essential to protect your company from a data breach. We all know that IT security is extremely important, but how are you proactively taking steps to protect sensitive company information? Simple human error and a lack of security awareness are often the root causes of cyber security breaches in the workplace. Here are tips to help your company keep confidential information secure.
1. Every employee should have his/her own login and password set up and all logins should be protected with strong passwords, which need to be changed every 4-6 weeks. Login details and passwords should not be written on pieces of paper and never written on a post it and stuck to computer screens or around your work space.
2. When employees are not at their desks, they need to log off. Screen savers should be set to log employees off after several minutes of inactivity.
3. It is important to password protect company files and folders to limit employee access.
4. All employees should be cautious of the actual source of emails they receive. Treat each message cautiously and double check with the sender if you are in doubt. Do not open any attachments that seem odd or out of context as it could contain malware such as a virus or keystroke logger, which could be monitored by hackers.
5. Have a good privacy policy and make protecting sensitive data a part of the company culture.
6. Educate your employees about IT security, keep up to date with what scams are happening currently in the computer world and let employees know what to be careful of and monitor this.
7. All information on a business network should be saved to a central location to reduce risk.
8. Use a reputable firewall and a secure wireless connection.
9. Keep anti-virus and anti-spy ware software up to date on all computers. Most small and medium size businesses have anti-virus and anti-spy ware software in place, but forget or neglect to make sure they have the latest versions or the latest updates and the business is open to all sorts of data security breaches.
10. Make sure you and your employees only download applications that come from reliable sources. Because applications (e.g., games, mobile apps) may contain viruses, spy ware etc., it's important to know and trust the source of an application before downloading it.
11. If your company outsources any critical functions or stores information offsite, ensure you vet third-party security practices such as cloud providers or ISPs. You are still responsible for that data and should ensure the third party is secure.
These tips alone will not completely protect your data but they are a great start and they will go a long way.
1. Every employee should have his/her own login and password set up and all logins should be protected with strong passwords, which need to be changed every 4-6 weeks. Login details and passwords should not be written on pieces of paper and never written on a post it and stuck to computer screens or around your work space.
2. When employees are not at their desks, they need to log off. Screen savers should be set to log employees off after several minutes of inactivity.
3. It is important to password protect company files and folders to limit employee access.
4. All employees should be cautious of the actual source of emails they receive. Treat each message cautiously and double check with the sender if you are in doubt. Do not open any attachments that seem odd or out of context as it could contain malware such as a virus or keystroke logger, which could be monitored by hackers.
5. Have a good privacy policy and make protecting sensitive data a part of the company culture.
6. Educate your employees about IT security, keep up to date with what scams are happening currently in the computer world and let employees know what to be careful of and monitor this.
7. All information on a business network should be saved to a central location to reduce risk.
8. Use a reputable firewall and a secure wireless connection.
9. Keep anti-virus and anti-spy ware software up to date on all computers. Most small and medium size businesses have anti-virus and anti-spy ware software in place, but forget or neglect to make sure they have the latest versions or the latest updates and the business is open to all sorts of data security breaches.
10. Make sure you and your employees only download applications that come from reliable sources. Because applications (e.g., games, mobile apps) may contain viruses, spy ware etc., it's important to know and trust the source of an application before downloading it.
11. If your company outsources any critical functions or stores information offsite, ensure you vet third-party security practices such as cloud providers or ISPs. You are still responsible for that data and should ensure the third party is secure.
These tips alone will not completely protect your data but they are a great start and they will go a long way.
