By Zoe Zorka

With all of the recent talk of the Heartbleed bug, many franchise businesses may find themselves wondering how they can protect their data from cyber attacks or intrusions. Unfortunately, cyber attacks are just one way that sensitive data can be compromised. For maximum safety, franchise businesses need to use a combination of physical, administrative, and technical safeguards.

Physical safeguards: Physical safeguards include locking up the workspace at the end of the day, turning off computers, and installing an alarm system or video surveillance system. Thieves can break into a business and steal a computer tower, laptop, or external hard drive rather quickly. It is important to lock up anything piece of electronic equipment that may contain sensitive data, including hard drives, thumb drives, or laptops. If you regularly take your laptop out in public with you, you might want to invest in a laptop lock. Also, never leave your laptop bag in your car- even if your laptop isn’t in it. Thieves may see this as an invitation to break into your car. Also, routinely check your cable box if it is located outside of your business to make sure that no one has spliced your cable in an attempt to steal it.

Administrative safeguards: Always require a login anytime a manager or employee has to log on to a computer system that contains sensitive data. In the event of an employee termination, be sure to eliminate them as a user in your computer system. You also might want to require employees to change passwords every 90 days or six months. Be sure to require a strong password that consists of upper and lower case letters as well as numbers and special characters.

Technical Safeguards: Always make sure that your antivirus software is up to date. Make sure that you are using only trusted Internet connections. Even in a public place such as a coffee shop, check with the establishment to see what their wifi password is. Even if you see a wifi signal that says something innocuous such as “Coffee Garden Free Wifi,” it could be a hacker posted outside in a van who created a vulnerable hot spot. Also be sure to secure your own wifi with a safe password to prevent electronic intrusions. For more information on the Heartbleed bug, check out this article from Business Insider explaining what it is and why it is important to change your passwords. In the event of a security breach, call an expert, such as Night Lion Security as soon as possible.

Operating a franchise business can be a very rewarding an exciting business. By taking a few precautions, you can worry less about computer security and more about running your business and taking care of customers.