Learn About Business Data Protection
Imagine going to work to discover an intruder has hacked into your system and stolen valuable information? What would you do? Would your business be able to survive such an intrusion? Whereas computers were once considered one of the safest methods of storing data, data theft and identity theft are now at an all-time high. Each year, around 9 million Americans have their identities stolen, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
What can you do to protect yourself and your business from hacking, identify theft and other forms of intrusions? What kind of business data protection plan do you have in place? Failure to have adequate business data protection can result in huge business expenses due to extra manpower, as well as legal fees and expenses.
Ways To Protect Your Business Data & Your Business
In an effort to protect their valuable information today, businesses are looking towards ways to implement better network security, stronger firewalls and are looking into data encryption. However, employers and business owners have to do more than just implement the security; they also have to monitor their networks regularly to see what type of activity is going on.
Through regular website auditing, IT people can track not only what type of activity is going on, but when and if the activity is authorized or unauthorized. In addition to having a top-notch business data protection plan, here are some helpful tips to help your business protect your valuable data:
- Implement a document management program that includes training on information handling procedures and identifies which documents are confidential.
- Discourage printing of confidential documents and restrict the number of workers who have access to these documents.
- Designate a document retention period and store documents in a secure location and shred when retention period comes. Sensitive documents that don’t need to be kept should be shredded regularly.
- Limit the amount of confidential data (e.g. social security numbers, driver’s license, bank accounts) that is kept to only what is necessary and give access to this information only to workers who must have it.
- Make confidential files password protected.
- When changing computers and installing new computers, dispose of old data.
- Install virus protection software and make sure all updates are done.
- Keep file sharing programs to a minimum.
Implement A Business Data Protection Plan Today!
Don’t wait until it’s too late and you’ve lost valuable information and clients! We offer various resources to help you keep your business and your business data safe. There are various training programs and seminars available to educate you and keep you up-to-date on the most current security measures available to businesses.
Small businesses are not the only businesses falling prey to identify theft and hackers. We’re often hearing news stories about large million dollar companies that have had their systems invaded.
More and more businesses are looking into cyber risk and data protection insurance. In fact, cyber risk insurance is predicted to be the most sought-after coverage in the next ten years. Why not take a minute and check if this is the type of business date protection your business needs to keep it safe from intruders.
Depending on the size of the company, a data breach can cost a business anywhere from thousands to millions of dollars. When you’re talking about reduced consumer confidence, loss of reputation and loss suits, these numbers can be astronomical – enough to cost you your business. You’ve worked way too hard to get your business where it’s at to lose it all because you don’t have adequate business data protection! Check into how you can protect your business NOW!