Bronsens
How important is IT security for an organisation?
IT security is as important to your business as the data that your business collects, processes and stores.
Data comes in the form of emails, bank details, medical details, manufacturing processes, staff bank details, in fact, any information available about your business, your staff and your clients.
How well could your business cope if that detail became unavailable due to being encrypted by ransomware? How valuable would that data be to cyber-criminals if it was breached?
How likely are your clients to trust you again or recommend you if their data had been breached because you had not implemented robust security systems?
Without adequate security systems, not only is your data at risk but so is your reputation and potentially your entire business.
How do cyber-attacks affect businesses?
There are various forms of cyber-attacks that can affect your business. All of these, amongst others, enable cyber-criminals to steal or restrict your data which can take your business offline or cost your company in financial and reputational terms.
They include:
- Malware – An umbrella term for any malicious software designed to cause damage, spy on user activity or steal data. It includes viruses, worms, trojans, backdoor/remote access and spyware. Some malware works in the background without the user being aware.
- Ransomware – Once installed ransomware encrypts all data, and the criminals demand payment in bitcoin in order to decrypt it. Depending on which machine is infected first, anything that user has access to will be infected, which means on a networked machine this could shut your business down. Not everyone who pays gets their data back.
- Phishing – Normally sent by email and encourages the recipient to click on a link (which looks like a legitimate website) which can then download malware or ask for and then steal login or personal details.
Why is data privacy so important?
Data privacy and data security are as important to your clients as it is to your staff and you. Clients need to know that when they give you their data – whether an email address, a list of financial assets or medical details – that it is safe and is only used for the intended purposes.
Whilst no business, no matter how small or how big is 100% safe from cyber-attacks, clients need to know that you are doing all within your power to ensure their data is safe with you.
That means having a robust data security policy in place and carrying out due diligence if the data needs to be passed to a third party or using a third-party data centre or cloud supplier to store data. The more transparent you are with your security processes the more you will gain the trust of your clients.
What is the most secure way to store business data?
There are various ways of keeping your data secure and a robust information security policy should include most if not all of these.
- Firewalls – These act as a buffer between your devices and the internet and blocks traffic according to a set of parameters that identify malicious activity.
- Anti-ransomware and anti-malware software – By installing this on all devices and ensuring it is kept updated protects your network from infection.
- Multi-factor authentication – In addition to passwords adding a pin number, randomly generated code or a fingerprint adds an extra layer of security.
- Email security – By employing multi-factor authentication, encryption and extensive training you can prevent email from being a source of cybercrime.
- End-to-End Encryption – By encrypting your data, only the creator and the intended recipient are able to access it.
- Cloud Security – Identify whether the public or the private cloud is recommended for your business, and then combined with multi-factor authentication and access management you can add another layer of security to your data.
Although you can never be 100% protected from cyber-attacks, the more security solutions you have in place the more protection you have. For more information on keeping your data secure within your business network see the main cybersecurity service page here.
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