As data continues to drive the world, cybercrime and insecurity are also soaring proportionally. Small and big businesses are equal targets for cybercriminals. For instance, a Symantec report showed that 43 percent of cyberattacks in 2015 targeted small businesses. Sadly, this trend has been on the rise. Also, an IBM report shows that cleaning up and recovering data after an attack has crippling costs. However, Nakivo is here to be part of the solution – look for more data on the VMware data backup solutions from Nakivo at https://www.nakivo.com/vmware-backup/.
Our team advocates for a proactive approach to the above data threats. Why? Because it’s cheaper setting up data security systems than recovering from a cyberattack. The reason is that you have no control over the latter, but you can control the former approach. So, here are our practical data safety life hacks for your business.
- Decentralize Password Access to Sensitive Data
To secure your business data, never allow a single person to access all the passwords. This approach is better since it minimizes the threat of data breach. Overall, keep the central access code your secret.
- Vet Your Employees Well
Second, vet all your new employees carefully. Don’t let mere “papers and experience” fool you into employing people. Some of them have skilled and dirty hands that can orchestrate internal data breaches. Remember, the Pricewater Coopers report revealed that crooked employs plan 70% of cybercrimes targeting small enterprises. Therefore, be cautious and check all employees’ backgrounds before allowing them to access sensitive company information.
- Employee Education
Still, on employee matters, you need to train your workers in data security matters. The reason is that a significant portion of all cybercrimes targeting small businesses succeeds because of employee negligence or ignorance. Hackers are becoming more complex. Hence, they use sophisticated methods that can easily fool your workers into accidentally disclosing sensitive company data. For example, they use harmless-looking emails, links, and attachments that resemble regular daily business communication. So, educate your workers about these attack tricks.
Also, be prudent when implementing your business’s policies. For example, don’t just ban a particular type of application directly because your employees could still interact with it. If banning is the best way to go, then give them the best alternatives they can use to be more productive at work. Otherwise, they will resent and overlook your orders, thus exposing the business to cybercriminals.
- Encrypt Everything
It is also beneficial to encode all your information on your hard drives and online. The reason is that it ensures that anyone who accidentally stumbles upon your information can’t read it. This way, only persons with access codes can read the information.
- Install an SSL Certificate
To take your online security to a higher level, you need to install an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) on your website. This measure secures all the sensitive details your users share with third-party websites using your site. For instance, if you trade online, your customers will share their sensitive financial details such as bank accounts and passwords. Therefore, encoding their data secures them and your business too.
Moreover, when dealing with an e-commerce platform, ensure that it follows the same protocol to secure your business details. This way, your sensitive business details will remain secure while dealing with your suppliers.
- Make Old Computers Hard Drives Unreadable
Computers and tech devices that store business information age and become obsolete. However, they still contain sensitive company details that could fall into the wrong hands and land you in trouble. Therefore, when you discard such devices, make them unreadable before disposing of them. After backing your data, wipe the disks using relevant software or shred them.
- Have a Strong Mobile App Security Policy
The business world has gone mobile. Therefore, the data security equation remains incomplete without factoring in mobile threats. The reason is that criminals know where users are—on mobile devices—hence, they have customized their attacks to target them there. So, establish policies that regulate how your staff share information via mobile devices. You should also have policies that determine what kind of apps they can use on or download to company mobile devices.
So far, you are abreast of practical hacks that will preserve your business’s information safety. It’s now up to you to accelerate it by applying them.