Tips to Measure Your Data Security
Small and medium size businesses often suffer huge losses due to data pilferage, unethical hacks and unanticipated destruction of data. Every business holds their data dear and any loss has a direct impact on the business. Thus, data security should be of primary concern for business owners, especially when they store data virtually. Data breaches can be extremely damaging for any company and for this reason, small and medium business owners should consider these tips. Here is a list of some important data security tips that may just save the day:
Stronger Passwords
It is imperative to have strong passwords for every device or virtual service your company uses. This is probably the most basic tip to your secure data in the cloud or any other devices in your company. Try to set a combination of letters, numbers and special characters when creating a strong password. You will also have to keep in mind that passwords are tough to break when they are longer – so try setting passwords that contain at least 8 to 12 characters. It is also extremely important to keep changing your passwords from time to time as that will always keep the hackers or unauthorized users guessing. Never, ever write down your passwords anywhere!
Decent Firewall
Using a decent firewall will help protect your network and keep hackers or illegitimate users from accessing the office network. Firewalls protect the network by controlling the incoming and outgoing traffic on the network. You can choose any firewall suite because the majority of these are extremely effective.
Install Antivirus
Anti-malware and antivirus software are the best tools to keep your data protected during online transactions. These will protect your system even if a virus or malware manage to dodge the firewall.
Update Programs and Applications
You must get your computers properly patched and updated. This is an extremely important step towards data security. If you are not able to maintain the resident programs or software properly by not updating them regularly, then it becomes easier for the hackers.
Secure Your Laptops
It is important that you secure the laptops by providing data encryption software that locks the drives or folders. Laptops are portable in nature; hence, they are vulnerable to unauthorized access. However, if you use data encryption software, then all your data is secure even if the laptops are stolen.
Secure Mobile Phones
With the growing use of smartphones for banking and other official data transactions, it is imperative to secure them as well. There are many people who use their smartphone to store sensitive business data, and anyone who steals the phone can unearth all the personal and professional data. Use data encryption to secure your mobile phones.
Regular Backups
You need to schedule regular backups for all the PCs, laptops and smartphones by regularly downloading data to an external drive or cloud storage. You should also secure these hard drives and/or the cloud storage location by using encrypting software.
