Nearly every other week you come across a high-profile data breach in the news. Shockingly, some of this data breaches occur to some of the biggest business establishments in the United States. There is always a news headline sighting breach of trust and loss of data. Your business establishment does not need to be one of the companies that suffer this kind of loss. Loss of data is a costly affair for any business establishment regardless of its size. Below are a few steps you can take to ensure that your business does not become a victim of cyber crime.
Protect your establishment from internal threats
Today, malicious hackers are not the sole cause of data breaches in businesses. Studies have shown that mistakes and internal threats posse a bigger challenge to a company’s security than external threats. This is regardless of the size of the business; consequently, companies need to not only control the storage of their data but also control their partners and employee’s accounts and devices.
Figure out what is most sensitive
You need to evaluate your data and establish which of it is the most confidential and sensitive. You also need to establish which of your staff and associates have access to that data. After doing that, come up with a spreadsheet that matches data types and services to your associates and employees. This should be done to those associates and employees that have access to sensitive data. The most sensitive include: your customer’s personal information and intellectual property.
Create a policy to regulate access to information
After identifying all your assets, review your employee’s access to sensitive data. A better way of handling this is to regulate access to important information. Once you opt for this technique, you should consider your choice of a content management system. It is important that you review your company’s system in order to refine it, and limit access to information.
Establish your weaknesses
Most of us have a tendency of reusing the same password for all things including work programs. When big service providers or retailers are breached, the possibility that passwords and corporate emails are also impacted is high. You should have different passwords for different programs. Secondly, you should have a strong password policy management system. You should also enlighten your staff on the disadvantages of reusing passwords across services. When creating a strong password, you should consider length more than the variety of characters you use.
Always be on the lookout
As a manager or business owner, keep abreast with business security news. You need to know which software are most vulnerable to attacks. You need to check whether any vulnerability has been unearthed in regard to the software your business uses. Most people are not aware what ransomware is: it is a type of malware that operates to prevent you from accessing both your personal and system files. In order to access the files, you are required to pay a ransom. With such threats looming, always ensure your software and systems are up to date. You should consider changing the settings of your devices to enable them to update automatically, in case you or your employees forget to update them.
As a business owner or manager, you should always strive to do your due diligence and adhere to the advice given by cyber security professionals.
