We’ve all seen news of a major corporation having their systems hacked, data stolen and/or leaked, but it’s not just large corporations that are at risk of having a data security breach. With technological advances being made consistently, the amount of data being shared and created daily has increased exponentially in comparison to a few years ago. As a result, without proper precautions and procedures, businesses leave themselves vulnerable to attacks, breaches and more.
What is data security?
Whilst the definition of the term is broad, ‘data security’ essentially means the protection of data from any unauthorised interaction – such as access, use, disclosure or removal. The term is most commonly used to refer to online or technology-based environments, but it can also include the protection of the physical person, from locks on doors to security cameras.
On an individual scale, security can be ensured through simple precautions, such as creating long and complex passwords, backing up your devices regularly for security updates, and keeping your devices safe against theft or loss. For businesses, however, it can get a little more complicated.
- 61% of SMEs have experienced some form of cyberattack
- 70% are still unprepared for consequences of an attack
- 60% of business are forced to go out of business are being the target of an attack
- 77% say that carelessness is the most likely source of a security threat.
Whilst these numbers may seem high, that does not stand to reason that your business becomes a part of a statistic.
What are the steps you can take to keep your business secure?
In essence, there are 6 factors of consideration in order for a business to implement an effective security procedure.
- What data does your business hold?
- What are the dangers and threats to data security?
- How is your data stored?
- How is the data used?
- How is your data backed up?
- Have you communicated your measures effectively?
1. What data does your business hold?
Firstly, what is the content of the data that your business holds – the sensitivity of the documentation and data that you have will affect the procedures and measure that you should implement as a result. More confidential material will, of course, need to be held more securely than general business data, and whilst the level of security may differ, it is important to recognise that all data needs to be maintained under some guise of security.
2. What are the dangers and threats to data security?
There are several dangers to consider that could break through your data security. Human error is the most common, when simple slip-ups can lead to costly mistakes, alongside physical threats such as theft and broken devices. On a larger scale, attacks by individuals or online data breaches can major disruption to a company and its assets. Malware infections on your home computer can expose all of your personal data to cyber crooks and possibly leave your files open to ransomware threat.
This leads onto what can be done about these issues and dangers. This can be simplified into a triad system: Confidentiality, Integratory and Availability. Confidentiality ensures that data is accessed by authorised individuals only whilst integrity ensures that information is reliable as well as accurate. Finally, availability ensures that data is both available and accessible to satisfy business needs.
3. How is your data stored?
Possibly most importantly is the consideration of your data storage. Updating your data storage to a more secure system can often make a considerable difference on the potential threats to the data. If your business is not already, consider moving your data storage to a single space or cloud storage backup.
Benefits of cloud storage
Cloud servers are generally safer than locally stored data; cloud devices use more complex security methods that the average computer user can create, giving you an added level of protection. Additionally, the data in those servers is encrypted making hacking it a laborious, if not formidable, task for criminals.
To further benefit, cloud storage is much more reliable when used in conjunction with another storage system, such as Microsoft OneDrive. The concern of lost data can be eliminated if the cloud storage platform offers more options for sharing as opposed to just storage. For example, by taking shared files and storing them in a system like OneDrive, you can make sure that if data is lost on your computer, then you can easily locate it through the platform on another system. Plus, with seamless integration to Microsoft office, files remain consistently updated in real-time and easily accessible.
4. How is the data used?
Make sure that your system allows the right people to access the right data and isn’t open at all levels to everyone in the company in order to avoid data breaches. Every employee should have a secure login, not only to keep individual files secure but for corporate-wide data as well. Once implemented, it is important to remember that efficiency shouldn’t be overtaken by numerous security measures. To simplify, there shouldn’t be an excess of security features that slows down business and stops employees from easily accessing the data needed for daily operations.
Additionally, take the time to get rid of your bad password habits by ensuring your passwords are strong using a mix of letters, numbers and symbols; use services such as a secure password manager rather than writing your passwords down in an non-secure note; and avoid using the same or similar passwords for different sites and platforms, so that if one organisation is breached, your other accounts are not at risk.
5. How is your data backed up?
Most secure systems will have an integrated backup system for efficiency, but you need to ensure that it’s working effectively. Weekly backups at the minimum should be standard but ideally, you want to backup your data every 24 hours to remove the possibility for error and loss of documents in the case of a data security breach. If your system does not to automatic backups, it might be time to consider moving your data to a system that enables regular automatic backups and has an effective procedure.
6. Have you communicated your measures effectively?
Finally, and foremost, it’s all about education; briefing your staff on the company policies and procedures in place to maintain security. And don’t forget about the mobile devices being used within the company. BYOD (bring your own devices) employees have to be considered when putting procedures in place for personal devices – maintaining security on company devices should be a standard – that can access corporate data. Try a mobile device manager to make these processes easier to follow through for every employee. Taking note of these considerations to implement a structured data security plan could mean the difference between surviving a data attack and losing essential business information.
