Did you know that the last couple of years is also known as the era of megabreach? It refers to a substantial number of data breaches that affected over 10 million records, which cost organizations lots of money and reputation.
The COVID outbreak has opened the door to many threats aimed at sensitive data, and the lack of adequate cybersecurity measures has contributed to an increased number of incidents leading to data breaches. Additionally, work from home and going all-digital has impacted the development of the era of megabreach.
Preventing cyber threats and establishing safe data management lies in building reliable and robust cyber hygiene inside your company. In this article, we’ll lead you through the 4 most efficient ways to enhance your data management security and implement the most advanced cybersecurity measures to protect your software, accounts, and sensitive data from being compromised.
At the same time, these steps help you foster a secure environment for your daily business operations.
1. Reinforce Your Passwords
In general, people are lazy when it comes to their passwords. Whether it’s about their personal or work accounts, they often choose simple, generic, and easy-to-guess passwords that allow hackers to access sensitive information without breaking a sweat.
Unfortunately, most companies still take passwords for granted and employ so-called relaxed password policies. However, implementing strong, impossible-to-break passwords is quintessential for protecting your sensitive data from unauthorized access and disclosure. Instead of creating a series of randomly arranged characters you’ll later write down on a sticky note and leave on your workstation, let a reliable password manager do the job for you. This intuitive and feature-rich tool generates solid and unbreakable passwords for your sensitive accounts, allowing you to share them with your teams safely and efficiently. You can choose among different options based on your budget and company goals.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you and your workers are responsible for your own login credentials – not the IT department. Remind your team of the consequences of sharing usernames and passwords with the rest of colleagues, families, friends, and outside parties in general. Any improper use of login credentials could result in a severe data breach that could put your organization at risk of losing revenue and credibility.
2. Keep Your Programs Updated
Update notifications can be annoying, but ignoring them can open the door to potential threats. It’s vital to understand that system updates exist for a reason. They bring new patches, enhanced security features, and more advanced systems that hackers can’t crack that easily.
On the other hand, obsolete OS lacks the necessary protection against the most sophisticated cyber threats, which is a massive vulnerability. In most cases, hackers detect and exploit those weaknesses, using them as an entry point for malware, ransomware, or other common types of cyber-attacks.
To avoid any incident resulting from the lack of most recent system updates, it’s essential to stay up to date with the latest OS versions. That way, you reduce the risk of data breaches and severe cyber threats that could compromise your entire system and network. Besides securing your devices and operating system, it’s vital to regularly update your security apps – antivirus, firewall, VPN, and other solutions you use to safeguard your office system and sensitive data.
3. Implement Backup and Data Recovery Solutions
Backup and data recovery solutions are a critical part of any strategy aimed at data security. In case of a cybersecurity incident leading to data loss, backup and recovery can help you retrieve your files and get your business operations back to normal more quickly and efficiently.
Again, this is something companies often forget to do. Unfortunately, the lack of data backup may cause many inconveniences, meaning that you’re out of options once a cyber incident occurs and your vital data is gone.
Companies have many backup and data recovery solutions to choose from. Depending on your company’s policies and goals, you can choose to store your data on physical storage or opt for highly efficient cloud options. As a rule of thumb, your backup data should be stored in a remote location away from your office. That way, you have the opportunity to safeguard and restore your data in case of accidental file deletion or a ransomware lockdown.
4. Test Your Security and Address Its Weak Points
No matter how hard you’ve been working on establishing a safe IT environment in your company, there will always be some room for improvement. Both employers and IT teams often overlook some existing issues in their current strategy, but that’s not something you should worry about (for now).
If the weaknesses remain untreated for some time, they might turn into a potential threat. To avoid that, it’s vital to assess your cybersecurity measures and identify risks that could compromise your data.
The first most common mistake companies commit is that they think that, once they’ve installed antivirus, firewall, VPNs, and other security programs, their systems are safe, and there’s nothing else they can do. Unfortunately, that’s not enough.
Whether you use your in-house resources or decide to hire a professional IT firm, it’s important to conduct thorough security evaluations to identify potential risks and prevent incidents on time.
In addition, most organizations observe cybersecurity as an expense, not an investment. And that’s the second most common mistake they make. They don’t invest enough in their cybersecurity, which puts their IT ecosystem and data at risk of being compromised, stolen, or hijacked.
Companies handling great loads of sensitive data often hire Chief Security Officers or form an entire IT team that monitors the company’s cybersecurity and implements the most viable strategies and solutions to safeguard essential information.
Conclusion
Improving your company’s privacy and security and prioritizing risks that could affect your safety are the keys to establishing safe data management. Remember that the lack of basic cybersecurity practices could lead to severe consequences on how you store, process, transmit, and manage your data. And don’t take your cybersecurity for granted – it could cost you a fortune and reputation.
