Privacy and Security Tips Every Business Owner Should Consider

Customers can quickly lose trust in a business after a report of a security breach. All businesses should make data privacy and security a top concern. Discover the following five tips to protect your business from a security breach and ways you can keep your customer information safe.

Limit Access to Important Data

One of the first steps you should take to increase your data security is to add administrative access controls to all data. Set limits on who can access your data and where people can access that data. For example, you can block secure information from being opened on mobile devices while an employee is away from work. You can also place restrictions on each document or folder to improve the overall security of your business data.

Require Two-Factor Authentication

In addition to data access limitations, you should also require employees to use distinctive passwords. Your team members may try to use the same passwords they use for other accounts simply because they’re easy to remember, but you can prevent this security threat by requiring employees to change their passwords often and use two-factor authentication.

For example, before an employee can access your cloud server, you can require a password and a code sent through a mobile device to ensure the person trying to access your data is allowed to do so.

Implement Data Encryption

When you or your employees are sending or saving data, that data should get encrypted to prevent hackers from accessing it, especially in cloud applications. Cloud data encryption is easy to implement if you use a cloud access security broker (CASB). This software tool occupies an environment between your cloud infrastructure and anyone trying to access your data.

A CASB encrypts data with encryption keys that you own. You can use this resource in addition to other data encryption tools you may already have in place.

Related : 15 Online Free Tools to Scan Website Security Vulnerabilities & Malware

Use a Secure Offsite Backup

Ransomware attacks are on the rise. These types of attacks occur when hackers steal your data and require payment from you before restoring it.

You can avoid this security threat by using a secure, offsite backup. With this type of backup, you can still access your data regardless of a ransomware attack. Hopefully, you also have the correct encryption set up to prevent the hacker from viewing your data if it is stolen.

Monitor Employee Devices

Cloud computing has many types of advantages for your business, such as real-time collaboration and the ability to work remotely, but all devices have different security threats. You should monitor all devices your employees use to make sure they use the proper password strategies and that virus protection and encryption tools get updated often.

Even with security precautions in place, your business could still be targeted by a hacker. But if you take steps to prevent a security breach, you can be prepared to deal with the aftermath if your business becomes targeted. You can purchase cybersecurity insurance, but you should also have a risk mitigation plan in place that includes notifying employees and taking steps to correct the damages.