Are You Protecting Your Business Data?

It’s important that you don’t let your company data fall into the wrong hands. This post delves into some of the dangers of a data breach and how you can protect your business data. 

The dangers of a data breach

A data breach could be very costly to your business. Even if no money is extorted during the data breach, the fact that data has been potentially stolen will mean having to launch an investigation that will cost money. Any customers who have had data stolen will need to be compensated - some may file expensive lawsuits. A data breach could also result in downtime - especially if data is deleted or corrupted - which could result in further financial loss.

Data breaches can also be damaging to your reputation. Customers who have had their data breached may not want to use your company any more and you may struggle to attract new customers if news of the breach goes public. Employees may also not feel comfortable working for your company and may even sue if their data has been compromised. 

How to protect your business data

It’s essential that you put in place measures to protect your data. A few protective measures are detailed below.

Make sure data is backed up

A huge loss of data could be enough to shut down your company for good. This is why it’s so important to back up your data. 

Cloud storage is the best form of backup. If someone gains access to your system, you can cut off access from your system to the cloud, allowing you to keep running your business off of data stored here. Cloud servers are incredibly secure against hackers, although they are not impenetrable - if you want to get really serious about your data, you may want to consider having an extra form of backup on a different cloud server or external hard drive.

Improve your cybersecurity

You should also consider ways of improving your cybersecurity. Many companies have firewalls and antivirus software installed, but still end up making simple cybersecurity mistakes such as using weak passwords or simply not taking caution with suspicious emails. 

To fully enhance your cybersecurity it could be worth considering the Essential 8 pillars of cybersecurity - these have become a popular set of guidelines for those wanting to improve their cybersecurity and involve taking steps such as patching applications and introducing multi-factor authentication. It could be worth hiring a business IT consultant to help you implement these. 

Train your staff 

Many cybersecurity measures are only effective providing that you train your staff how to implement them. You need to be sure that your employees are using strong passwords and that they are wary of phishing tactics. It could also be worth drilling emergency response plans to cyberattack situations such as a ransomware attack or a network attack - your employees will then know what to do and who to contact in the event of an incident.