Data is one of the most valuable assets an business has and is utilized for everything from decision-making to sales and marketing. It’s important for businesses to take measures to safeguard their data from hackers and other cyber-attacks.
A data breach can have disastrous results, regardless of whether you’re the largest company or the newest start-up. It’s not just a matter of tarnishing your image, but you could lose customers who don’t feel confident that their personal data is safe with you. Even small-scale business owners can secure their data by using the right security.
Begin by preparing a comprehensive list of your organization’s data assets and where they are situated. This will inform any preventative measures that you take.
It’s important to classify data according to its level of sensitivity. This will help you decide if it needs to be secured in the most secure manner by making sure that it is encrypted at all times. The classification process is constantly changing and needs to be continuously reviewed when information is changed or modified. This will ensure any changes are made according to the most recent classifications.
Protecting data at rest -that is, when it’s residing on your system — is just equally important as safeguarding it in motion. It is ideal for your business to be able to monitor all access to critical data from any device at any time. This reduces the chance of human error, which Verizon’s 2022 DBIR found was the reason for of 82% of data breaches.