“What exactly is data security? How can I prepare for potential threats?”
In today’s digitally centric world, questions like these shouldn’t be tossed to the back of your mind. On a daily basis, numerous organizations find themselves as victims of poor data security. But what exactly is data security? To put it simply, it is the measures taken to protect digital data and business-critical information safe from the possibility of attacks, security breaches, as well as human-error.
Data security should be treated as the answer to a wide range of complex possibilities. This may only seem necessary for large organizations in the financial and medical industry, but this isn’t true. Businesses, both large and small from all industries, should implement security measures into every facet of the operation.
“How can I prepare my business for potential threats?” There are numerous precautions that can be developed that fit the exact specifications of each organization. Here are some general security measures that can be applied to all businesses:
Test the Strength of Your System
Before blindly implementing data security measures, it’s crucial to understand the ins and outs of the system your business utilizes. The best possible way to get a solid “30,000-foot view” is to conduct an IT assessment. IT assessments can help with:
- Determining weak spots of communications between departments.
- Identifying any possible network, infrastructure, and security issues.
- Developing management plans for preventative and reactive maintenance.
As you can see, IT assessments can help you hone in on your pain-points, possible weaknesses, and vulnerabilities. The major benefit of conducting these tests is to develop a unique strategy for preventative measures and maintenance. Conducting analysis like breach and penetration tests on a routine basis can guarantee that your system operates as effectively and efficiently for as long as possible.
Develop an Incident Management Plan
Although conducting routine IT assessments can dramatically improve your overall data security, we all know how unpredictable life can be. For this matter, businesses can benefit from developing an incident management plan. The first step is to understand that plans like this reach far beyond just the IT department.
More and more businesses are beginning to adopt employee security training and education protocol to ensure that everyone knows what to do in the case of an emergency. Every employee in an organization bears the responsibility to utilize safe security measures whether it be creating strong passwords or emailing business-critical information safely.
The best possible method to educate all employees
Create a Disaster Recovery Plan
For a lot of businesses, data security becomes a priority as a reactive measure to a recent data breach or attack. The attack is devastating to the business, but the most damaging effect of this threat is determining how to recover from it. Not having a disaster recovery plan can exacerbate the situation exponentially. A disaster recovery plan should include:
- Backups of all critical information (preferably in more than one location).
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
- Digital Forensics Analysis
Having backups in multiple locations can reduce the amount of recovery time needed to continue operating as normal. Losing even a small portion of data can cause long-term headaches that no business should have to endure. Also, to effectively learn just how devastating the attack was, it is crucial to create a BIA (Business Impact Analysis). This analysis will present just how harmful the effects of the attack were financially, reputationally, and contractually. Lastly, conduct a digital forensic analysis to locate where missing data might have been accessed from as well as determine where it has moved to. If needed, this analysis can acquire supportive evidence in the pursuance of warranted legal proceedings.
As we can see, data security isn’t something to be taken very lightly these days. We hear far too often that companies we trust with our information experience attacks and data breaches. It’s every businesses’ responsibility to implement the strongest possible data security measures. The first step to making this a reality for your own business is to test the strength of your system. If an attack occurs, it’s vital to your operation to have an incident management plan to react accordingly as well as have a disaster recovery plan to ensure your company’s health returns to normal as quickly as possible.
TLDR; Data security is the measures taken to protect your digital data and information as effectively as possible. The best ways to prepare for threats include:
- Test the Strength of Your System
- Develop an Incident Management Plan
- Create a Disaster Recovery Plan
For more information or to learn how your business can dramatically improve data security, head on over to CNIweb.net and speak with one of our tech experts.