8 Reliable And Affordable Business Data Security Tips
Data is fueling the growth of businesses. Hackers know this, and they know that businesses will pay millions if they threaten to compromise their data. Consequently, 43% of all cyber-attacks in 2019 targeted SMBs, and the average cost of a cyber-attack is about $3.9 million.
Many SMBs don’t recover from cyber-attacks, sadly. Fortunately, we can look for cybersecurity solutions and prevent these attacks. This can be achieved through employing cybersecurity services that can protect, detect, and respond to cyber risks and threats that target your business and also by taking some sensible precautions yourself.
Here is an overview of eight cybersecurity tips to keep your business data secure:
Sensitize Employees on Data Security
Hackers often orchestrate socially engineered cyber-attacks that prey on individuals’ ignorance. Your employees may be prime targets of such attacks if they are not on board with your cybersecurity plan.
Your employees need to know about the looming threat of cyber-attacks and their catastrophic effects. Having a strong Mobile Threat Defense solution in place will inspire them to be more careful when handling business data. It will also help them identify potential cyber-attacks and take the necessary security measures.
More importantly, your employees should learn how to avoid and repel cyber-attacks. For example, they need to know how to pick strong passwords and secure their remote devices. Finally, ensure that your employees know that they will be held accountable for any negligent actions that expose your business to cyber-attacks.
Improve & Protect Passwords
Passwords are an easy and popular way to restrict unauthorized access to data. However, they are only useful if one cannot hack them. As such, it is advisable to strengthen your passwords and add an extra layer of security.
It is advisable to use at least eight characters in your password. It should also be something creative and challenging to guess. Additionally, it should feature a different range of characters, including letters (both uppercase and lowercase) and numbers.
It is also advisable to add an extra layer of protection to your passwords – hackers have a range of tricks to get around secure passwords. For example, two-factor authentication will secure your passwords by requiring you to answer a personal question or use a unique code to log in after putting in the correct password.
Secure Personal Devices
Employees often use their devices to access work-related data when they are out of the office. This has become especially necessary now that the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing people to consider work-from-home options.
Employees’ devices are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks than the company’s devices. However, you can change that by implementing the necessary cybersecurity measures. For example, you can instruct employees to install cybersecurity measures such as anti-virus programs and firewalls. It is also equally important to have your employees secure their wireless network connections.
Limit Admin Access
Data access has operational benefits. However, it doesn’t imply that your employees should have access to all data. This is a recipe for data mismanagement – it also increases the risk of someone finding a way to compromise and manipulate your data.
Your employees should have access to only the data that they need to do their jobs, ideally. For example, the marketing team doesn’t need the employees’ data, and the floor manager doesn’t need the CEO’s records.
As such, have a system to control and monitor everyone’s access to data. It is also advisable to store sensitive data on a different platform – one that doesn’t have traffic from the local network, ideally.
Protect Against Malware
Malware is a popular weapon by hackers. They are easy to deploy, and they can give the hackers complete remote control of your digital systems.
Malware programs infect your digital systems using viruses that have consequences such as holding your data hostage for a ransom. These malware programs are challenging to eliminate when they infect your systems, and it is prudent to avoid infection in the first place.
To this end, it is advisable to protect against malware using cybersecurity measures such as installing anti-malware programs.
Encrypt Everything
Encryption is a fail-safe cybersecurity measure that is more reliable than many other security measures. It comes especially in handy when hackers manage to get past the other security measures and get their hands on your data.
Encryption entails cloaking data in an algorithm that is difficult to crack. The algorithm essentially scrambles the data and makes it unreadable. Anyone who gets the data only ends up with random strings of characters. Hackers cannot use it to hold you for ransom or for any other practical purposes – the data is virtually useless to them.
When it comes to safeguarding your sensitive information, the choice of whether should you tokenize or encrypt your data can make a world of difference. Understanding the nuances of tokenizing or encrypting methods is crucial for protecting your data's security and privacy.
It is advisable to encrypt your data immediately when it enters your digital systems. It is imperative to encrypt the data before sending it out via wireless networks. Ensure that you use the latest data encryption solutions, as outdated and straightforward algorithms are possible to crack.
Backup Your Data on the Cloud
Data is usually the first casualty of a cyber-attack. It often gets lost or decimated as the hacker uses it as a bargaining chip. It can also get released out to the public. Whichever the case, your chances of recovering the data are slim.
As such, it is prudent to backup copies of your data – on the cloud, ideally. The cloud is relatively secure, and you always have access to your data from anywhere. However, you will also need to take extra security measures to secure your cloud storage platform. As such, it is advisable to use professional cloud data storage services for reliability.
Schedule Regular Updates
Cybersecurity is a dynamic field. Hackers are continually working to find new ways of bypassing the existing cybersecurity measures. Fortunately, cybersecurity experts are also continually working to provide better and stronger cybersecurity solutions, staying one step ahead of the bad guys.
The point here is that yesterday’s cybersecurity solutions are not reliable, as they are easy to hack. It would be best to have the latest cybersecurity solutions for reliable protection, and updating your systems is the best way to do this.
Updating is simple: set the system to automatic updates – the systems will automatically download all updates as soon as they are released. It is also advisable to upgrade to newer and better cybersecurity solutions.
A cyber-attack will disrupt your business operations and compromise your data. You can face losses amounting to millions of dollars, and it would take years to recover – if you do recover. As such, it is prudent to avoid attacks by beefing up your cybersecurity measures.