One of the facets of running a business necessarily involves having important business data and information. The bigger your business is, the more data you’re going to have. Then, there’s also now that pressing need to do something about the threats that come along with data storage: data security breach.
This refers to that inherent threat of confidential business data falling into the hands of thieves; hence, the need now, more than ever, to ensure the safety of business data. Protection strategies should also apply to all forms of business data, be it physical or soft data.
With that in mind, it doesn’t hurt to update what you know about the different strategies that’ll come in handy when it comes to protecting business data. These strategies include:
1. Back Up Data
Backing up data is on top of this list because it seems very simple. But, not many will actually think about doing this very basic step. Whenever you have to keep or save important data, be sure that you keep a backup of the file. By doing so, just in case the original file gets lost or stolen, you’ve got a backup of the document. And even if for some reason you don’t have a backup, you can still try to restore the deleted file. For example, if you have lost some files from Microsoft teams, you can recover them using this guide.
This applies to both physical and digital data stored in your laptop or desktop computer. When it comes to digital data, if you save it on hardware, have the backup on the cloud. As to your physical files, if you can’t have two copies stored separately because you’re running short on space, then, at least, have one physical and one digital copy as a backup.
2. Protect Data In Your Workspace
This third tip applies to physical data. What’s your work environment and culture like? Do you have a system in place to ensure that after every working day, employees who are working on confidential files make sure to clear their desks and remove those files?
This also includes ensuring that all the information on your desk or your employees’ desks stay safe when you take short breaks. Don’t just leave them lying around the table, open for everyone else to see, especially if clients also come in regularly for meetings.
Remember these simple steps in your pursuit to protecting data in your workspace:
- Keep sensitive documents in secure locations, even when you’re taking only a short break.
- Lock your computer up every time you leave your desk—it’s as simple as having a password on your computer.
- After scanning, printing, or faxing online, don’t leave the documents on the machine. Pick them up and store them right away in their proper place.
3. Maintain A Good Antivirus And Spyware Protection
Antivirus and spyware protection have long been present since computers came into being and the Internet started to become more popular. But, as basic as this may be, there are still many offices that may have fallen short on installing a good antivirus and spyware protection on their systems.
If this situation resonates with you, then you’ve got to be sure to have a good antivirus and spyware protection in place. Buy a good product, have it installed, and be sure that it’s also up-to-date. This is your very first line of defense against protecting your computer from possible viruses that may attack it, particularly when you may be opening a lot of websites, many of which can be unsecured, as a part of your business operations.
4. Make Your Old Hard Drives Unreadable
If you’ve got a hefty load of documents needing to be saved regularly, this also means that once in a while, you make an audit of your document. When you do this, there might be some old hard drives containing files that you no longer need to use for your business.
Before physically throwing these out, be sure that you also make them unreadable. You never know who wants to pick that up and try to open the files. Even if you don’t need them, those are still important business data that shouldn’t be leaked.
You can clean up your old hard drives by using software to clean them up, a disk shredder, or magnetically cleaning up the contents of the disks.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve got ideas on how you can protect your business data, be sure not to take it lightly. The data breach is a very serious threat to any company that should be given proper attention. It’s not one only to be taken lightly. Especially if you’re still a small business with poor retrieval means, for instance, the loss of business data can turn out to be a catastrophic event.
If there’s any positive change you should aim to employ in your company today, it’s definitely protecting your business data. By so doing, you can be sure that you’re able to keep your company safe from the dangerous data theft, waiting for their next business to prey on.
