Simple Steps to Secure Your Organisational Data
When it comes to safeguarding your company’s data, you need a foolproof game plan. That should include everything from encrypting confidential files to securing a VPN for all company devices and also securing the data of those working with you and for you. But that’s not also, you also need a good cybersecurity policy and a cyber incident response plan that defines how you should respond in case you get attacked.
With the rampant rise in cyber-attacks in 2022, it is imperative that every business pay serious attention to its cybersecurity infrastructure as well as cybersecurity policies and ransomware attack readiness.
You’ll need to follow a few rules to keep your business data safe and keep your employees’ digital safety in mind. You can also look at opting for our Virtual Cyber Assistant service that can help you improve your organisational cybersecurity maturity over time in a cost-effective way.
Why should businesses care about safeguarding their data?
- If you transmit or store any type of information –no matter how sensitive– you might be held liable in a court of law if someone else illegally uses that data. If you accidentally send out confidential information on your company’s products, then someone in the public domain could potentially use it to create a counterfeit copy and sell that product for a high profit. This can damage your bottom line and also dilute your brand value.
- Building on the previous point, protecting digital safety clearly also gives a competitive advantage to your organisation. If you’re worried about your competitors finding out about innovations and improvements for your products or services, then it’s critical to keep your information safe.
- Safeguarding your company’s data is an act of self-preservation. The information stored in your digital assets is potentially worth more to your organisation than the money it would cost to protect it. This is why it is advisable to regularly conduct assessments such as a simple Cyber Health Check, a Ransomware Risk Assessment or a Breach Readiness Assessment. These assessments can help you evaluate where your business currently stands in terms of cybersecurity maturity and what you need to do to improve it.
What Kind of Data Do You Need to Protect?
Any piece of sensitive information that your organisation holds – whether it is personal data or information on technology innovations – is a precious asset to be protected at all costs. For example, if your company makes pharmaceuticals or medical devices, then the research and development department handles a trove of secrets that others would love to exploit.
It can include new drug formulae, test results on competitor drugs, or even information that proves that your company has produced a dangerous product. On top of this, employees in accounting handle highly confidential financial data related to revenue streams and costs. If a rogue employee leaks this information it can have serious consequences for your company’s financial performance and even stock value.
Simple Tips to Boost Your Organisational Data Safety
Here are a few basic steps you can undertake to boost your organisational cyber resilience.
- Implement monitoring to detect abnormal behaviour. One way to do this is by using a cloud-based service that can detect suspicious activity like unusual login activity, IP addresses accessed from unknown locations, etc.
- Establish restricted network zones and install firewalls at critical points in your organisation’s networks. These should be monitored for anomalies like new users connecting from outside the company or sensitive software being downloaded on company-owned devices from external sources such as the internet or intranets.
- Make sure access to proprietary data is restricted and secured and use multiple layers of encryption.
- When installing any new software, especially that which is not considered a “standard-issue” or “approved” tool, make sure there are no side effects to the data or the company’s networks and systems.
- To prevent users from mistakenly sending out confidential information, such as credit card numbers in emails when they don’t mean to, make sure employees are trained on the ‘What You See Is What You Send’ approach.
- Follow ‘two-step’ authentication for all user logins. This will ensure that unauthorised users do not gain access to private corporate data or your company’s network.
- Ensure employees are protected by firewalls on their computers and mobile devices to prevent unauthorised access while they’re working on the go.
- Use anti-virus software; update it when necessary, and ensure it is regularly scanned for malicious software, as well as disinfected periodically to ward off threats.
- Use encryption. It’s not just the fastest and most secure way to protect sensitive data, but it also will help prevent any unauthorised access or loss of information for any establishments.
- Periodically test security controls, and ensure that employees are trained in how to best use them because ultimately they’re responsible for overall organisational security.
Conclusion
As you can see, digital security is not only huge in terms of monetary value but also the impact that it has on an organisation’s reputation. Companies must protect their data and information against cyber-attacks because if they are leaked, the repercussions are massive.
You must also have a sound strategy for responding to cyber-attacks. The truth of the day is that sooner or later most organisations could and will be compromised. It makes sense to prepare for such an eventuality and sensitive your staff about it too.
Blog Reference: https://www.cm-alliance.com/cybersecurity-blog/simple-steps-to-secure-your-organisational-data-in-2022