Keeping your information security safe and up-to-date is critical. With almost 70% more instances of data compromise reported in 2021, ensuring data security is the key consideration for a business of any size.
A data breach is easily avoidable when a business has the appropriate safeguards in place. Without proper security and procedure, a business can leave itself to the consequences of data theft. It can further ruin a business’s reputation and can cause irreparable damage. In order to ensure business continuity, investing in the right data security methods is essential. Below are the top 10 ways to help you keep your data safe and secure.
- Make a Strategy
Instead of having a vague idea, a business must design a strategy to maintain its information security system. Prepare it in detail and exhaustive as possible. Ensure to lay out a data protection plan and also what to do if things go wrong. A reformed incident-response strategy always stands good rather than making rash decisions in the heat of a moment.
- Define the Sensitivity of Your Data
Before implementing any data security measures, categorize your data into:
- Low Sensitive Data: Safe to be used and seen by the public
- Medium Sensitive Data: Can be shared within the business but not with the public
- High-Sensitive Data: Can be shared only with a limited circle of insiders.
Classifying your data will help you prioritize the information to be protected first, and then concentrate on other data categories accordingly.
- Train Your Team
Educate your employee’s cyber security best practices and the company’s policies. Conduct regular data security training and keep the employees updated on recent changes. You can also share examples of real-life security breaches to help them understand the consequences of a lapse in data security.
- Design a Secure Plan for Personal Devices
Data security is compromised by employees bringing personal devices. Create a soundproof plan covering pertinent data deletion, location tracking, and internet monitoring. Moreover, a business must make provisions for employees working remotely, as they are more vulnerable to security concerns if not managed properly.
- Monitor User Activity
Plan a comprehensive user activity monitoring functionality. Ensure continuous real-time monitoring of your employees who have access to servers. It must include:
- Automated notifications on suspicious actions
- Incident response features
- Session recording with metadata
Having access to user sessions related to your sensitive data makes it easier to secure interactions with your critical assets.
- Dispose of Your Data Properly
Have a proper data disposal policy. Data that is no longer required is a critical factor to diminise a security breach. Ensure that data retrieval is impossible from retired and reused media. Similarly, check that information on documents is not just carelessly thrown away in trash bins.
Reinstalling and formatting hard drives or deleting specific files is not the proper way of getting rid of your critical information. Instead, businesses should implement a sound data destruction policy for both data on electronic media and paper as well. To properly destroy all your critical data, it is recommended that you hire a professional shredding company. USA Shredding Company offers safe data destruction as well as proper recycling of the disposed material, ensuring greener earth.
- Manage Third-Party Related Risks
Monitoring third-party systems are also critical. Even the most trusted source may be vulnerable to hackers. While using the services of a third-party ensure:
- That you clearly understand the landscape of your supplier while defining who can control or process your data
- Sign a proper service-level agreement
- Keep a regular watch to be sure that data security measures are maintained
- Apply Physical Security Measures
Physical safeguarding of data is often overlooked. Protect your critical data with storage systems so that no hard devices or other sensitive components are at risk for unethical use. You can also consider setting up a BIOS password to prevent data theft.
- Safeguard Your Passwords
Design complex passwords that are hard to crack. Moreover, change them frequently with embedded numbers and other non-standard characters. You can use a password manager to help save you from the worry of remembering your passwords and avoiding risks while writing them.
- Use Multi-factor Authentication
MFA is also one of the advanced forms of data protection strategies. It works by adding an extra layer of security before authenticating an account, thus even improving your data security measures.
Conclusion
The best practices for data security are not limited only to precautionary measures. It is a set of policies that needs to be revised timely to help mitigate information security risks.