Actionable Tips to Keep Your Business’s Sensitive Data Secure

Cyber threats are a more common occurrence than you might like to think. Every corporation, whether big or small, is a target for data theft by cybercriminals. Data thefts are defined as criminal acts where secure and sensitive data of a business stored in databases and servers are stolen. To add to the woes, a data breach or theft may not come to notice until long after it has taken place. They can cause disruption of operations, loss of reputation for an organization, and revenues thereafter.

The question is – how can a business secure sensitive data and prevent data thefts? You would be surprised to know that it is fairly simple to prevent data theft by placing essential safeguards in place. Here are a few actionable tips to keep your business’s sensitive data secure.

1. Plan Your Security Strategy

For effective security implementation, you must first plan a strategy that covers every aspect of your business. The strategy should be detailed and exhaustive detailing how the data and resources of your business have to be protected. The strategy must include a plan to counter a data breach as soon as it is identified.

2. Protect Your Network

It is imperative that you secure your network without making any compromises. Remember that wireless networks are extremely prone to hacking. You can make your network secure by using strong encryption methods. Do not make your network visible and grant access to your network after a two-step verification method only. You can use anti-malware software, install necessary firewalls, antispam software for emails, and PC protection software such as antivirus and monitoring software to prevent data thefts from happening.

3 Password Protection

Passwords are the key to your network and need to be safeguarded with extreme caution. Use complex passwords that are hard to crack and implement a password protection strategy in your organization to change the passwords after regular intervals of time. Password manager apps are handy tool that helps manage your passwords securely without you having to remember them. Password protection is key to preventing data theft.

4 Data Disposal

Use caution when you need to dispose of data that is no longer useful to you. In case of upgrading to new storage equipment, make sure that no data remains on the old drives and storage devices. At the same time, when you reinstall operating systems or format drives, ensure that old data is completely erased and is not accessible with any data extraction tools to prevent data theft. 

5 Safety Training

Simply creating and working on a strategy to secure your business data will not give you the desired results unless you train your people and make them aware of the dos and don’ts. Conduct sessions to train your staff on your data security policies and help them understand the importance of following the requisite procedures.

Conclusion

The key to avoiding data thefts in your organization is vigilance. You need to implement safety measures to prevent data theft and remain alert by monitoring constantly. In addition, you need to have a plan in place to react to a data breach if it does happen, or else you may just make a bad situation worse. The takeaway is to implement safety measures and constantly monitor for unauthorized or abnormal activities to prevent data theft.

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Author Bio:

Sachin Agrawal is an Enterprise Architect and heads up Business & Technology at Tarika Technologies. He carries the expertise and a flair for writing on Management Consulting, Software & Analytics, and Digital Media. Apart from distilling his technical ideas into creating innovative solutions, he is a practitioner of Haidong Gumdo and at his leisure, taps the Cajon and strums his Guitar!