We’re in the digital era, and businesses, both small and big, are at risk of data breaches. Many businesses have fallen victims of this vice in the last couple of years, leading to huge losses.
However, despite the threat that data breaches pose on businesses, many small businesses don’t give it the seriousness it deserves. Yes, most of them still think they won’t become victims of this vice as their businesses are too small.
But this isn’t always the case. Regardless of the size of your business, you can become victim to cyber-attacks and data breaches. To that end, you need to ensure that your business is 100 percent secure.
However, even those businesses that have taken measures to protect their businesses from attacks can get it wrong. And there are many reasons for this. Lack of resources, expertise, and time are some of the main reasons that can make small businesses miss warning signs or even overlook the necessary processes when it comes to data security.
You shouldn’t worry, though. Here are some expert tips to help avoid common data security mistakes.
1. Be Proactive
As earlier said, most small business owners assume that their businesses are too small to be attacked. However, any business can fall victim to data breaches.
You, therefore, need to be proactive and ensure that your IT department and other members of your staff are aware of the dangers of cyber attacks.
Yes, cyber security should not be left only to the IT department. Every user in your organization is responsible for preventing this vice.
2. Put Technical Staff in Charge of Security
The people you put into handling the security system need to be technical experts. Even so, most companies make the mistake of putting non-technical staff members in charge of security. This is a huge mistake and can cost your business a lot.
Always ensure that the people in charge of your security system have knowledge about the nature of the risks and how they can use technology and other processes to protect your data. Remember, data breaches are numerous and always changing, meaning your security experts should be able to handle the ever-changing needs of your business.
3. Choose End-to-End Data Encryption
You can secure your company’s data safely by ensuring all messages sent are encrypted. To do this, however, you need to choose the most secure form of encryption.
To that end, we would recommend the cloud end to end encryption that encrypts messages before they’re stored in the cloud. Unlike the traditional data encryption where the password keys are stored by the service provider, these providers encrypt the message upon receipt and pass the encryption keys to the recipient so they can decrypt the data safely.
As such, it is among the most effective way of securing your data. You only need to encrypt the data and have better encryption key management practices. This way, no unauthorized person can access your company’s sensitive data. What more, even if your data is lost or stolen, the encrypted data cannot be read.
4. Monitor Your Security System Consistently
Hackers are always upgrading, and by monitoring your systems, you will become aware of impending dangers. This way, you can detect changes that could lead to a data breach. To that end, you may want to have a security operations center to help monitor and analyze your operating systems and networks.
5. Consider Having Third-Party Penetration Tests
To ensure that your security system is the best, you should conduct a third-party penetration test. After all, how will you know whether your system is breach-proof? Third-party penetration tests also allow you to discover vulnerabilities that you might have missed.
6. Consider Your Business Goals
It is crucial to ensure that your security aligns your business goals. Even so, some businesses don’t consider the impact this will have on the overall business performance. Results? It leads to budgetary issues and thus appears to be a business expense as opposed to easing business operations. In the end, the data security program becomes ineffective.
7. Backup Your Data Properly
What would happen if, for any reason, your sensitive data is lost? Can you get it back? Well, this will depend on the backup regime you’ve put in place.
To that end, ensure to have a proper data backup plan to ensure that your sensitive data can be retrieved in case your security system is compromised. Also, consider storing your backup data in an offline location where it’s unlikely to be infected. Finally, don’t forget to monitor your backups to ensure that your data can be restored as expected.
