Security and privacy are at the very top of our priorities when considering business IT. Major data leaks of sensitive information are in mainstream news on a daily basis. You hear about data breaches affecting millions of businesses’ customers. You don’t want your customers or business to be a victim of fraud.
Your number one goal should be protecting your customers and your business.
It’s expected for your banks and credit card companies to handle your privacy data well. Unfortunately, less secured businesses need access to our data too.
Think about it, booking into a hotel often requires you to leave your name, address, date of birth, and credit card details. These few pieces of information are more than enough to steal your identity. Hackers could start a line of credit, and access many of your vital services. You can often only hope your chosen hotel network handles your information as well as your bank does.
Protecting Your Customers with Smarter Thinking
There is no way to change the cybersecurity practices of your favorite hotel, but you can improve the security of your business.
You don’t need the manpower or funding of a major banking chain to handle data security. With simple security adjustments, you can worry less about data breaches for good.
By stepping up IT security to meet modern threats, you can help to limit your liability. Taking a proactive approach puts customer’s minds at ease. Don’t start implementing IT security after you’re attacked. Forward-thinking gives your firm a competitive advantage. Should hackers attack, the work you do today will limit the damage and help you to weather the storm.
Limit Your Data Collection
The most important thing to consider when securing your business is how much data do you need to hold? Consider the value of all the personal information you collect in your transactions. Do you have a use for everything you ask for?
Emails, addresses, and contact numbers are useful for receipts and marketing! When you start to add more data than that, your data starts to become useless and wasteful. Each piece of unnecessary data you hold gives hackers more value. Thieves will find immense value in gathering more personal information. This increases your liability without adding any extra value. We recommend having a plan and policy to mitigate your risks of damage.
Consider Your Access Requirements
Think about who has access to information within your business and why they need to access it. Often security problems begin when employees have privileges to access all your data.
Access restrictions should be specific to the company structure. Lower-level employees should only have access to what they need. Managers, for example, will need access to more confidential systems than the lower staff.
Zero-Trust restrictions should be critical too. All personnel should have some sort of way to verify their authorization. Especially in a remote environment. Computers and mobile devices must have a password or identity verification to log on.
Treating Data with Care
The way you treat your data reflects the impact hackers will have on your business. Do you know where your backups are, and when they were last tested? Firms often first know they are in trouble when they realize all their data is on a business laptop. Some firms maintain backups on USB drives or shuttle a portable hard drive between home and work.
Avoid these mistakes!
These solutions should have no place in a professional business environment. The best data care means ensuring backups are secure against fire, theft, or online hacks. Protecting your customers and your business is all about the smart application of IT.
We can help you to lock down your business to protect the most valuable assets your business owns, data. Call us at 800-297-8293
