Featured article by Calvin Paige, Independent Technology Author
Data is seen as a goldmine in this digital age. It is being used by businesses everywhere as a means of gaining deeper insights into who their customers and prospective ones are. As a result, many have invested money in buying software and tools that can help with gathering and analyzing data. In addition to this, they’ve likely hired a team dedicated to the cause as well. If all of this effort is put into gathering data, then it’s only right that an equal effort is put into safeguarding the data gathered as well. You’ll find a few ways that you can do so in the below article.
1.) Use Encryption
Encryption can prove to be an effective way of safeguarding data in your business. What encryption does is uses an algorithm to change information and make it unreadable to unauthorized users. This is why it’s a good tool to use if you want to protect sensitive information.
You should know that encryption can be used in two ways which include to protect at rest data which could be located on a hard drive, or to protect in transit data which is being transferred between browsers or via email.
2.) Secure Computers
Aside from using encryption, you may also want to consider securing your computers as there is likely to be sensitive data there. Computer thefts aren’t uncommon, so make sure computers are anchored to desks so they aren’t easily removed. In the process, don’t forget to secure other devices such as uninterrupted power supplies and backup devices.
3.) Use the Cloud
If you aren’t comfortable with having physical servers that store your data on office grounds, why not consider transitioning to the cloud instead? Although there are ongoing disputes about whether it’s actually safer to store data on the cloud, some argue that it is. One reason is because data stored on the cloud is nearly almost always encrypted. However, it’s also important that you know that you play a role in keeping your data secure too by following best practices.
4.) Train Staff
Training is an important component of safeguarding your business data. Seeing as there will likely be more than one person handling it, they need to know the right security measures to take. For instance, it’s important that they know not to share passwords and to update them regularly. They should also know to call professionals like Secure Forensics to help with investigations in the case of a data breach. Understanding how to mitigate risks could reduce the chances of it happening again.
5.) Control User Access
Poor access controls could easily lead to a data breach. For this reason, control the number of people that have access to sensitive information. Get a qualified network administrator that can help set up permissions and online security measures. This is important as a single virus could disrupt a whole network. You may want to put role-based access in place so that users are assigned groups and you can make sure they only have levels of access they need.
Business data isn’t something that should be easy for hackers and cybercriminals to access. Although it is possible for security measures to be intercepted, lower the risk by following the above tips.
