Protecting Your Business Data in Today’s Digital Age
Saturday, April 14, 2018, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
The digital age has changed a lot of things. But it hasn’t changed the necessity to protect finances, income, and confidential documents from people with ill will.
Something it has changed, however, is the way the game is played — the tools with which data is shared, stolen, and safe guarded.
The rapid advancements technology has made in the past several decades has changed all of that, and so the way we operate in regards to these matters must also change.
The main thing addressed in this article is that there are new ways to steal information and new ways to respond to that — to protect information.
On some level, this is old news: everyone uses a computer nowadays, and most of them have encountered viruses at some point in their life.
Even if you’re aware that there are these dangers, do not get complacent! The future is now, and you need to stay ahead of the curve.
Here are some of the most important ways you can protect your business’s data in 2018:
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Encryption
An increasingly popular way to safeguard your data, encryption codes all of your information so that the only people who can read your data are those with the encryption key.
This is incredibly important for your financial records but is especially important for any personal information. Full names, addresses, insurance information, paystubs, and business transactions can lead to a lot of trouble if they fall into the wrong hands.
Of course, this doesn’t let you off the hook for enacting other personal management techniques.
Having backups, deleting inactive files, and changing passwords regularly is still important. But you never know when disaster will strike, so having the immediate protection of encryption is one of the best ways to prepare for what’s around the corner.
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Website Protection
Even with the rise of social media, websites are still vital. Not only do they act as a professional face of your brand, but they provide information to customers on how to reach you, what products you’re selling, and company news.
Your customer info, your passwords, and even access to your home server can be obtained through your website. There are several recommended security steps you should take, but some of the most important ones are having secure passwords, using HTTPS, and installing security plugins.
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Backups
If you should lose your work somehow, it is vital that you do your best to recover it! There are some people who run small businesses who don’t think to back their work up, even in today’s age. They may have everything moved over to digital, but their record-keeping skills haven’t caught up. Unfortunately, this can completely bring a business to ruins.
Nowadays, many companies are switching to third-party backups.
The idea is that, through the power of the cloud, another service — a third party, if you will — will keep the backups of your work. This is probably your safest defense against hackers.
However, it can be a struggle to find cost-effective ways to handle data management, and this could easily be out of your budget.
Using the cloud on your own terms is a great idea in itself, though. If something happens to your digital work materials — computers, hardware, servers — you can still obtain it from an external source by storing information on the cloud.
Of course, depending on the scale of your business, you could also use physical, external hard drives to backup the work as well. It all depends on how much information you have to backup and what your budget looks like!
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Caution
It’s important to be prepared for the worst when you’re running a business, in addition to these tips, use a sense of general caution as you proceed with your operations.
First of all, keep all of your software and apps up to date. This includes those that you use in your day-to-day operations as well as those that help you represent yourself publicly.
For instance, your website and any social media apps you use should be updated to their most recent versions, as security measures are often increased and improved upon with these updates.
And of course, if you didn’t pick up on this already, have a recovery plan — not just on how to get your data back but how to do damage control on any losses you’ve incurred.
Be aware of potential threats as well. If you’re hearing about it, it’s likely happened to somebody else already.
Credit card scams, for example, still happen all the time, and it’s best to know about them as they pop up and change form. Just be on the lookout, proceed with your operations in a cautious mindset, and you’ll be fine.
How do you recommend safeguarding your information? Let us know in the comments below!
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