Over 18 million websites are infected with malware at any given time each week, and every month, over 1.5 million new phishing sites are created. That means that the prevalence of data breaches and cybercrime will only grow. Businesses have to stay a step ahead of cyber attackers to keep their company’s digital walls safe. With the available IT solutions, companies can implement strategies that can help improve the safety of their company’s data. If you’re looking to learn how to protect your company’s data and prevent financial or reputational damage, you’re in the right place. This post will highlight five practical ways to improve your company’s data security.
1. Train Your Workforce
Human error is a primary threat to any company’s data. According to a study by Stanford University, 88 percent of data breach accidents are caused by employees. New untrained employees who access company computers can lead to significant security breaches if not monitored. Organizations have to heavily invest in security awareness training programs to help their employees learn the importance of data security. Let your employees understand policies and establish rules to be followed to tighten data security.
2. Pay Attention to Insider Threats
When dealing with data security, don’t just focus on the outside threats but consider insider threats. Due to their nature, insider attacks can be challenging to prevent or detect. The worst part is that they hurt your company the most. However, you can still visualize, create backups for all your data, and monitor activities on your employees’ computers and prevent these attacks. You can also use anti-malware tools to prevent your employees from clicking on unknown links before you check them.
3. Limit Employee Access to Data
Not all your employees can be trusted. That means not every employee should be granted access to critical company data. If your employees have to use computers to work efficiently, set strict permissions for the cloud to prevent a data breach. All employee accounts should be updated regularly to ensure that essential data remains only in admin accounts. Usually, students seeking a Graduate Certificate in Compliance officer qualification and Risk Management have either completed Certificate IV or have significant experience.
4. Enable Two-Factor Authentication
One painless and cost-free way to quickly improve security is two-factor authentication. You can implement this security feature for your accounts and every other account in your company. Two-factor authentication creates an extra layer of security when logging in to your accounts by sending a code to your email or phone number. You need to enter this code after entering the correct password. The code is valid for a few minutes or seconds, making it difficult for attackers to crack in that short period.
5. Have Backups for Every Data
The best way to ensure that you don’t lose data to criminals is by creating backups. You can try the 3-2-1 rule, which states that you should have three copies of your data; one in the cloud, one in a different account, and one off-site copy. This will ensure that you don’t have to worry about losing data or everything you have worked so hard to achieve.
