Image Credit

Businesses worldwide heavily rely on data to run their organizations. For example, data is a practical way of identifying company losses and setting profit projections. According to Insights, approximately a generation of 2.5 quintillion bytes of data takes place daily.

Regardless of your business type, data is fundamental to knowing your customer’s preferences. More so, it helps improve your business and keeps you on track to achieve your goals.

Companies collect voluminous data annually for their business, from tracking IP addresses and a user’s details to search histories. You can then transform these data sets into an algorithm to predict your target audience and improve your marketing strategy.

Data protection, therefore, is a critical component of any business. Having a suitable security protocol to protect your data is highly prudent. A company facing a data breach will likely lose an average of $8.19 Million, with the cost per breach estimated to be $242.

Data protection should be a key consideration for your business, whether running a small business or an established franchise. Here are tips on protecting your company’s data.

Introduce a BYOD Policy

As tech advances, Bring Your Own Device (BOYD) is a popular approach that most business owners embrace. It is an ideal choice for small businesses since it saves on costs. In addition, companies don’t need to purchase specific devices for their staff.

However, it can also create a security concern for the company. As your employees leave the workplace, they leave with substantial data on their devices. To counter this, streamline the company policies on data protection with your employees’ devices. Employees who do not comply with this will not get a share of sensitive data.

Use of Encryption

Encryption technology is an essential method for securing your data. A typical target in ransomware is data that cybercriminals use to blackmail you. For example, a cyberattack can target your company’s patent or IP and attempt to sell it to the highest bidder.

With encryption in place, you can prevent hackers from accessing vital information. As a big business, you may be fond of using Media Duplication Services for your data volumes. Therefore, encrypting your hard drives, USB, and any data before transferring it to the cloud is essential.

Password Security

As you implement different security protocols for your devices and data, do not forget your password security. Weak passwords put you at risk of attack from malicious websites. Educate your employees on the essence of having strong passwords for their login credentials.

You can also introduce password management applications for automated solid passwords.

Train your Employees

A quick way for attackers to access your information is through unprotected devices. For example, your employees may not know that a specific website tracks information from their mobile phones. Giving proper training to your employees on data protection will steer them clear of malicious websites.

For instance, most people are unaware of the difference between HTTP and HTTPS. According to a survey by Ponemon Institute, 54% of data breaches are by employees. Keeping your employees informed on the data protection policies is, therefore, prudent if not necessary.

Create Data Protection Policies

In addition to your BYOD policy, you need to set specific guidelines that will warrant your data protection. For example, it would be best if you categorized your data into sensitive and non-sensitive data. This way, you can keep track of who gets to access what.

You can create a protocol for accessing such data with either clearance levels or unique passes for sensitive data. Resultantly, this increases the rate of accountability, consequently reducing the chances of a data leak. Beyond measures you are introducing yourself, it would also be worth reading Truvity's insight into 7 companies pushing eIDAS 2.0 forward to find examples of companies you can model your data protection framework off in the future. It will also give you a keener insight on the kind of legislation being introduced which will need to be complied with down the line.

Outsource your Data Protection

If you can’t manage it on your own, outsource your data protection to cybersecurity companies. Most businesses have a compliance requirement to meet when sharing and storing sensitive data. Outsourcing this to a reliable security expert can help secure your data and create peace of mind for you to focus on other business components.

As a small company, you may think you are out of harm’s way. But, unfortunately, cyber attackers often attack small and mid-sized companies assuming that they have little or no security protocols in place.

Keep Track of Data

An essential step in data protection is being aware of how data flows in your company. Keeping track of your data can help you discover vulnerable points that need protection. In addition, data discovery tools can identify computers or networks not authorized to hold your data.

Finally, as e-commerce is continuously booming, hackers are devising other ways to get consumer information. Therefore, it would be best to consider revising your data protection policy and strategies as your business expands.