Your business data is your business itself. Without it, your business is going to lose key information, confidential employee and client information, and more. Protecting your business data doesn’t just mean against cyber threats and security: it also means against loss of data, too.
Here are 6 substantial ways you can protect your business data.
1. Use Strong Passwords
It goes without saying in this day and age, but it’s even more essential for key business data. It can be tempting within a business to recycle passwords so that these are easier to remember across the board. However, using the same password for many of your business processes (even if it is a strong one) leaves you more vulnerable should that password be hacked.
Strong passwords should contain a variety of letters, numbers, and symbols, and always try to use unrelated words and vary your passwords for each process or log in.
Be sure to also monitor password situations with employees who have control of their own, so you can be sure they are not changing passwords, such as forgetting them and resetting.
2. Create a Security Policy
Having a formal policy for any business area greatly improves understanding and correct procedure, and this applies to security, too. Having an official security policy helps all employees of the business to understand how best to protect business data, and which safe practices to use. It also offers the opportunity for employees to check back to an official document regarding security whenever they need to.
3. Use a Firewall Fit for Your Business
While it’s essential to use a firewall security measure for your business, not just any firewall will do. You need to take into account the size of your business and the amount of data that needs protecting, in order to ensure that every basis is covered. Therefore be sure to compare packages that match your needs, such as Checkpoint enterprise firewall and security software for large businesses.
4. Always Back Up Your Data
Data backup on a daily basis is essential for protecting your business information and ensuring that no key data is lost. A strict backup procedure should be implemented in a way which works best for your business, whether this is a manual backup on-site, an off-site Cloud backup, or both.
5. Conduct a Risk Assessment
Regular risk assessments will help you to identify any threats to your business data, or where security measures need to be improved. This is especially important if your business is ever-evolving with new practices and software coming into play all the time.
With every new process, a risk assessment should be implemented to ensure everything is always updated and secure.
6. Educate Your Team
Your employees will be on the frontline with your business data and will need to understand appropriate practices for keeping data safe, as well as understanding how to identify cyber threats. Regular team meetings and training regarding online safety and business data safety will be a boon.