Whenever you see a data breach in the news, it’s never a good thing. Their impact ranges from minor to severe, and depending on the size and scope of the breach, it could even be bad enough to break a business. Let’s go over how you can keep your business from suffering from data leaks.
There are many ways that data could leak, and it’s important to know what these ways are. Your standard cyberattack is one of them, but there are also chances for your employees to unintentionally (or even intentionally) leak important company data. Understanding that these are possibilities will help you make the appropriate decisions in regard to protecting your data.
If you implement the right cybersecurity tools, you’ll be less likely to experience data breaches. You can start this process with a comprehensive vulnerability assessment to understand where your data is most at risk. You can then proceed to implement security measures like a firewall, antivirus, encryption, and updates/patch management software. With measures like these in place, security vulnerabilities will be less likely to crop up over time. Just be sure to regularly perform these assessments, while you’re at it.
Your data storage holds countless files that could potentially leak if you don’t take appropriate precautions. In terms of security and access control, we recommend operating with the principle of least privilege. You only grant access to what is absolutely necessary, and nothing more without prior approval or authorization. This combined with authentication measures can help you mitigate most opportunities for data leakage to occur.
Your employees are actually one of your major attack vectors, whether they realize it or not. Teaching them a thing or two about security best practices will go a long way toward preventing data leaks. They should be taught how to identify potential phishing threats, how to handle sensitive data, and the appropriate way to use passwords and other authentication measures for their work accounts.
You always hope that you never have to use it, but data backup is something that no business can ever go without. It mitigates the risks involved with data loss and data tampering. We recommend you follow the 3-2-1 backup rule, which involves having three copies of your data in at least two different storage mediums, one of which is in the cloud. Trust us when we say that you don’t want to deal with a data loss incident, and having a working (and tested) data backup solution could save your business from certain doom.
With so many possibilities for data to fall outside the scope of your business’ control, you can’t take anything too seriously. Be sure to have First Column IT help out by calling us at (571) 470-5594.
