How Businesses Can Better Protect Their Valuable Data
The online world is composed of reams upon reams of data. Some of this data simply tells algorithms and protocols what kind of images and text to display when a website loads. But there are also valuable data swirling in online databases – like personally identifiable data that cybercriminals could use to hack into your bank account. Given that this data is most often held by businesses, it’s important that online firms know how to protect and secure their customers’ data properly. In this article, we’ll look at three key ways in which businesses can do just that.
Constant Improvement
The last 18 months have been defined by a sea change in how businesses handle their digital operations. With employees working from home rather than the office, a huge amount of internal data pertaining to customers has shifted from the office to homes around the world. And that creates vulnerabilities that cybercriminals are quick to exploit.
In light of this rapidly changing environment and the gaps, it’s creating in firms’ digital security apparatus, it’s crucial that responsible businesses seek to constantly improve their cybersecurity. That means engaging with new technologies and solutions such as risk based authentication methods, which help prevent hackers from getting access to your most precious data, which is always that of your customers.
Better Training
As well as improving your cybersecurity infrastructure, any business looking to tighten their data protection should invest in skills and training for their staff. For example, many countries now require by law the inclusion of a data protection officer within a company that holds valuable customer data. That officer is the individual responsible for keeping data safe.
But in truth, every member of your team is responsible for following smart, sensible data protection advice. That includes being incredibly careful with passwords and access, as well as getting each and every worker schooled up on simple cybersecurity protocols. With training, you’ll also imbue in your team an ability to spot threats or potential issues before they develop into a potential data breach or data loss event.
Limited Copies
When a business loses all of its valuable data, it’s a disaster. But at the same time, if your firm has copies upon copies of that data, scattered across different hard drives and memory devices, as well as in the cloud, that simply makes more opportunities for your data to be stolen. So, to protect your customers’ data, limiting both the copies of that data and who has access to it is incredibly important.
This amounts to smart data protection systems that many larger firms have in place as a standard method to reduce the risk of hacks and breaches. Smaller firms would do well to follow their lead, seeing as cyberattacks against smaller organizations are on the rise and can be incredibly costly for those smaller firms without the legal or cashflow weight to overcome data loss or theft.
Bear these three key tips in mind as you set out to make your business more responsible with your customers’ data in the coming months.