Data leaks have the potential to be utterly devastating for any business or individual. Data breaches can damage a business’s bottom line as well as its reputation. If your customers don’t trust you with their business, then you will find that things become much more difficult for you. When your data is not secured properly it is vulnerable to theft and manipulation by outside actors. You can click here to learn more about identity theft through hacking. When you have little network security, it is just like leaving your door at home unlocked. You are virtually inviting the thieves in.
Main Threats
The main threats to cybersecurity for businesses come from other businesses. Industrial espionage is very real; there has been a dramatic rise in the number of apparently state-sponsored hacking attacks carried out against private businesses and industries across the world. Some modern hackers are hacking for the sheer pleasure of it and these kinds of hackers can be just as bad for your business.
Where You Store Data
When you are trying to decide upon the most appropriate medium to store your data on, it is important to consider the security implications. Some types of storage are more secure than others.
If your data is stored internally on your business network, or on the hard drive of individual computers, then it is entirely your responsibility to keep it safe from interference and to ensure that you have proper security protocols in place.
If you are using third party services, either online or offline, you need to ensure that you vet the company you are thinking of working with in order to ensure that their security protocols are up to scratch and will ensure good data security.
Accessing Data
You should have procedures in place to ensure that only the people who need to access particular pieces of data are able to do so. In order for customers to entrust you with their data, they need to know that you will keep it safe and secure.
If any external individuals or third-parties that you work with need to access your data, then ensure that this happens through secure channels of which you have control.
Practice Makes Perfect
The best way of ensuring that everyone in your business are following good data security practices is to educate them on what those practices are and encourage them to follow them throughout their personal and professional lives. Secure Data Recovery has an excellent guide on how to keep your personal data secure online, which you may find of use.
It is vital that your business practices good data security. The cost of hiring someone to manage your security requirements is nothing compared to the potential damages you will face if there is a data breach at your company. In some cases, where large volumes of personal data are stolen, businesses can face very steep penalties.
In order to avoid this happening to you, make sure that you really drill into your team’s minds that they need to always be paying attention to data security. With enough practice, these behaviors will become automatic.
