Businesses in general hold lots of valuable information, and this is information that hackers would love to get their hands on. In the past, the general opinion was that large companies are the most likely target for cyber-attacks, but SMBs are becoming increasingly attractive targets for attack – whether it be for intellectual property, or information on clients. When we spoke with a company that specialises in IT support services in London, they mentioned some of the primary ways that businesses can protect their data. Below are five examples of data protection measures that every single business should implement.
- Data Backups
Many forms of cyber attack aim to lock organisations out of accessing their own data, and holding that data ransom. Other forms of attack simply aim to corrupt an organisation’s data. In either scenario, having a data backup is hugely beneficial. Thanks to cloud computing and storage, it is possible for businesses to create a backup of their entire organisation’s data and store it off-site where it is safe and secure. Keeping data backups off-site is important, because in the event where restoring data from a backup is needed, the likelihood is that the organisation’s entire on-site infrastructure was impacted.
- Disaster Recovery
Having up-to-date data backups is one thing, but a business also needs to be able to restore that data safely in the event of a disaster. This is where disaster recovery cot comes in. According to the company we spoke with that provides IT support for Schools, DR is designed to outline the protocols that need to be implemented to restore a business’ operations if they are impacted by some external factor (natural disasters, cyber-attacks, etc.) In addition to operational function, DR should include data restoration protocols, and post-breach investigations into what may have caused the disaster.
- Manage Access
Sometimes, the security of an organisation’s data can be weakened from the inside. When it comes to digital data storage, access permissions are very important, and need to be managed strictly. For example, an employee that leaves the company might still have access to company systems if the login credentials they have access to are not deleted (or changed). Furthermore, employees that have access to data that is not important to their work represent a weakening of the company’s perimeter – access permissions should be managed on a need-to-know, need-to-use basis.
- Security Audits
Cybersecurity is constantly changing and adapting, and managing an tech consulting that is secure can be a lot of work – the worst thing a business can do is be oblivious to vulnerabilities in their security strategy. This is why businesses would do very well to schedule regular security audits for their IT infrastructure. The company we spoke to that provides IT support for Construction companies, stated that security audits should be performed multiple times a year, ideally. This will allow the organisation to review all the measures and practices they have in place, and identity the strong points and, most importantly, the weak points.
- Encrypt Emails
Communications in business need to be encrypted. Any form of communication – whether it be emails, direct messages, telephony, or video calls – might contain sensitive or identifiable information that snoopers or hackers may be able to intercept. Thus, all information – and especially information that gets sent outside of the organisation’s private network – must be encrypted from end to end. There are many examples of attacks – such as man-in-the-middle attacks – which rely on being able to snoop on data transactions between devices and IP addresses.
