For business owners, data security is one of the most important areas that should be considered aside from maintaining the business. This holds true even for small business owners. If you think about all the important data stored virtually, from financial records to your client’s financial information, you’ll realize how a single breach could cause a devastating problem to your business. That said, we have gathered some of the most important measures that you should take in order to secure your data online.
1. Invest in a Reliable Antivirus Software
To ensure that your data is well protected, investing in a reliable antivirus program is one of the best precautionary measures that you can take. Aside from from that, you should also consider the use of an anti-malware software. These softwares serve as the final frontier when it comes to protecting your valuable data against unexpected attacks, in case that they managed to go through your system. Antivirus and anti-malware software works in a way where they detect and remove the virus, adware, and spyware from your system. Also, the best programs scan through and filter out potentially harmful downloads and emails.
2. Be Careful with e-Mail, IM, and Surfing the World Wide Web
Unsuspecting employees would usually click a link or download attachment, thinking that it won’t cause any harm at all. What they’re not aware of is that, it can be infected with a virus, malware, or something that could ruin the system.
Advise your employees as much as possible to refrain from clicking links that they’re not familiar with – both in emails and IM. Aside from that, you may want to consider an email security solution for your business. Since McAfee ended their email security service last year, there are some great email security solution you can use as an McAfee MX Logic replacement.
3. Stay Away From Common Passwords
Every computer, as well as web-based applications, should require a password before it can be accessed. Thus, make sure that the password you’re going to use is difficult for hackers to crack.
TIP: For security questions, it would be even better if you translate your answer into another language with the help of free translation tools. Through this, you’ll have the assurance that they will be difficult to decipher.
4. Use Off-Site Sensitive Data Storage
As the business grows and become more and more successful, there’s also the risk that more hackers would be interested in stealing your sensitive information. These people would do anything just to break in your business security and steal vital information, such as employee identification, financial records, and even the business’ financial accounts. To ensure that your data is well-secured, it’s highly advisable to store them outside the business. The implementation of off-site storage solution becomes advisable for this.
5. Printer Protection
Printers are one of the most common devices used in businesses today. Unfortunately, a lot of people aren’t aware of how important it is to protect the printers as well.
In some printers, printed and scanned documents can be saved on them, which means that cyber criminals could have the chance to steal this information. To prevent that from happening, make it a habit to disable things, such as printer sharing, and opt for wired connections, instead of the regular wireless connectivity. We also suggest that you consider using printers that automatically deletes the data right after printing.
6. Secure Server Rooms
Server housing data are very important, and this has been the case within the past few years. Thus, as a business owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your data is fully protected. For that purpose, make it a point to lock your server room, and implement security procedures for those who have to enter and exit the room. That way, no one would have the chance to access your server anonymously.
7. Have Backups
Try your best to schedule regular backups using an external hard drive, or I the cloud. It’s one of the best ways to ensure that your data would be stored safely, and cyber criminals won’t have the chance to steal them. Make it a habit to perform complete backup on a weekly basis, but if possible, try to do this every night just to be extra sure.
No doubt, having your data compromised is one of the most painful experience that you can ever have. To prevent that, make it a habit to follow the precautionary measures discussed above.
