Data Breaches: How to Protect Your Business from them

Worried about data breaches that could influence your business in a negative way? Here’s a security guide to protect your business.

A security breach at a company can come in many forms and affect any organization regardless of size. Human errors and bad security protocols are the main offenders, but hackers are always actively trying to steal data for financial gain.

The average financial cost of a data breach for a small business is estimated at $4000, and this does not consider the long-lasting effects. If a company has a track record of losing critical information on clients or suppliers their reputation and therefore income will suffer. Because of this, it’s imperative that every small business owner reviews and puts in place tight security features and practices.

Eliminate the Major Cause of Data Breaches

The primary reason for data breaches is human error. A study in the UK found the 88% of data breaches were caused by human error and only 12% by malicious attackers.

Human error related breaches were mainly caused by sending an email to the wrong recipient. In most cases this is not an issue, but it can be.

It’s important to remind staff of their security obligations and to keep diligence levels high. Many companies roll out security protocols and then do little to emphasize the importance of adhering to them.

Set regular quarterly meetings to discuss any security issues and have an open floor to get ideas on how to improve the current protocols.

With the amount of technology we use in an office or workspace, it is essential to set admin access rights on all company software. Users should only have access to info that is relevant and necessary for their role at the company. Admin access should be reviewed to ensure there are no unneeded employees with access to crucial information.

Get Professional Help

No matter what company you run or how big it is you still need outside help. A critical third eye to look into the procedures in place will always offer good advice. An expert will also be up to date with the latest practices.

They will also have knowledge of recent breaches along with how best to protect against them. A security professional will have many tools they can use to eliminate risk at your business.

One of the most valuable offerings a security expert can offer is penetration testing. A penetration test is a procedure by expert hackers who will ethically look for weak points throughout the infrastructure.

An ethical hack by qualified professionals will identify all the areas that need to be improved, and you will receive a full, focussed business risk report from the test. Knowing where the issues are is the first step in solving them.

In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in socially engineered breaches. In this case, an individual will entices or convinces an employee to grant access or send info to them.

The human factor is the most common way for a business to be exploited. This is why hackers have utilized this particular aspect to gain access. A security professional can advise on the best practices to avoid these sort of data breaches. They can also highlight areas that need attention.

Leverage Secure Technology to prevent data breaches

Human error is the main reason why crucial data gets lost. This is most likely thanks to robust software which most businesses now deploy. Technology and software are the fastest growing industries and the products that hit the market today are much more secure that products for just a few years ago.

For small businesses’ the advent of cloud computing has helped to offer secure and affordable solutions for those who could not afford out the box products. Good cloud CRM which is updated and improved is a must for any CEO. Prices are tailored anually. This keeps initial outlay down. With full-time support it can reduce any burdens on your current in-house IT team.

Many employees look to integrate their work and home life, and this can be achieved by providing a secure mobile platform that employees can use while keeping the chances of data breaches low. For small yearly license fees, your employees can email, collaborate and use internal software like CRM or ERP systems.

And now that most companies are allowing the BYOD culture, it also calls for putting up some extra security measures.

For instance, companies could either stick with the policy of “only company-provided cell phones” at work or bring an employment clause into place where employees cell phones could be monitored during work with something like Xnspy.

Conclusion

The fact is: Only a small percentage of data breaches are committed intentionally and maliciously. However, these can be dangerous and need constant improvement of systems to eradicate. Any small business owner should speak to a professional security company and look at what the local government advises.

Keeping up to date with the latest advancements and data breaches worldwide will give you a fuller view of what your business needs and requires. It doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive to put in place plans to eliminate the chances or being hacked, and a recovery plan to get the business back and running if the worst does happen.

Feel free to share your views about data breaches and online security in the comment section below.

Watch this space for updates in the Technology category on Running Wolf’s Rant.

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