Whether you’re a startup or a big corporation, you’re storing a constantly growing amount of data that needs to be kept private. With data theft and cybersecurity threats incidents becoming more prevalent and causing terrible damage to any business, data protection has become a critical part of modern business strategy.
Without proper cybersecurity, you’re leaving your business open to cyber-attacks and data breaches. However, there is no need to worry because numerous cybersecurity best practices exist to help businesses keep their data safe.
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Outsource A Cybersecurity Firm
Whether you’re a startup that can’t afford to hire and maintain an in-house IT team or a big corporation that needs extra support for your IT department to stay updated on the latest data security protections, outsourcing a specialized cybersecurity firm like Rubrik.com can be beneficial.
With cybersecurity threats continuously evolving, businesses must adapt as they progress to prevent becoming victims of data breaches. This is where outsourcing a cybersecurity service firm comes in; it can provide the necessary security support you need. In addition, you get better access to top-notch security tools, expertise, constant coverage, and security reliability at a lower cost.
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Create And Implement a Data Security Policy Plan
Instead of having a vague idea of business security procedures and policies, businesses should consider writing a comprehensive and detailed IT security strategy. This security policy plan should lay out basic security techniques for protecting your business data and its assets. Also, it should include what employees can do when things go wrong.
Adding an incident response strategy to your data security policy plan can help guide your employees in case a data breach occurs. This allows your employees to act quickly and adequately to minimize damages to your business.
Once you’ve written your security policy, don’t forget to update it as needed. Since cyber-attacks and threats evolve every day, it only makes sense to update your cybersecurity policies regularly.
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Take Advantage Of The Cloud
In recent years, businesses have relied on on-premise data centers to store essential business data. However, nowadays, modern businesses are relying on the cloud for its numerous benefits. With the cloud, you can access your business data anywhere and anytime. It also removes the need to invest in and maintain physical servers. Plus, it helps mitigate security issues with some of the advanced security protocols and systems from well-known providers.
That said, regardless of where you’re storing your business data, it’s essential to have a backup & recovery strategy. Remember that a simple employee mistake or system vulnerability can result in data loss with on-premise or cloud storage. With a good data backup routine, you can avoid security risks like ransomware without jeopardizing your reputation and losing customers’ trust.
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Take Passwords More Seriously
Most individuals take passwords for granted. They frequently use passwords that are simple to guess, such as a combination of their names and birthdates. Furthermore, most people use the same password for multiple services and accounts because it is easier to remember than having different passwords for each account.
However, while these may be convenient for your employees, it increases your business’s risk of a data breach. Although it’s one of the basic security features, passwords are your first line of defense against hackers and cybercriminals. Thus, you should take them more seriously. You may want to encourage your employees to take the time to come up with strong passwords when using business apps and accounts to ensure the security of your business data.
A strong password generally consists of eight or more characters with a combination of letters (both uppercase and lowercase), numbers, and special characters. If your employees are having a hard time remembering complex passwords or numerous passwords for different accounts, you can help them by investing in a password manager. It allows employees to safely store and manage passwords without the need to memorize complex passwords for each business tool and software.
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Train Your Employees
Did you know that employees caused over 80% of data breaches? And most of it is unintentional. For instance, an employee may not fully understand a malicious link on an email, accidentally clicking on it and letting malware into the system.
Although it can be considered as an accident, human error in data security can cause a lot of damage to your business. You should invest in comprehensive employee training on the latest data security risks and best practices as a significant data security vulnerability. By training your employees to become more cybersecurity-savvy, you strengthen your overall business’s security and help prevent breaches on their end.
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Encrypt Everything
Despite all your efforts to prevent a hacker or a cybercriminal from getting into your system, there’s still a chance that they can slip past your security protection and obtain the data they need. However, encrypted data is pretty much useless to them.
Without the encryption key, hackers can’t open or read the data to sell or misuse it. Instead, they only get away with thousands of completely gibberish data that means nothing and has no value.
This makes encrypting a powerful defense against a data breach. In general, you want to encrypt everything, whether the data is in transit or at rest in your storage spaces. Encryption is not only valuable for protecting data resources in your business. You can also use encryption technologies to safeguard employee communication, preventing packet reading in transit.
Takeaway
In this modern world where businesses rely heavily on technology, there’s nothing more important than data security to ensure a thriving business. Without taking the time or putting in the effort to secure your business data, you risk causing massive disruptions and even irreparable damages to your company.
That said, as damaging as cyber threats can be, most are easily preventable when you implement the proper safeguards and security strategies. By following the tips mentioned above, you’re putting your business on the right track to keep your company data safe and secure, ensuring business success, growth, and continuity for years to come.
