Although security applications have been around for a long time, data loss remains a serious threat to businesses online and offline. According to IBM’s 2016 Cost of Data Breach Study, the average cost of lost data was $221 in the U.S. 48 percent of these breaches were caused by hackers and criminal insiders. Human error, negligence, and system failures are also risk factors that could endanger the safety of your data.
That said, you should never take cybersecurity lightly and set safety measures from within the workplace. Be proactive and aim for prevention rather than focus on recovery and cleanup procedures.
Promote Security Awareness in Your Staff
Gaining your staff’s cooperation is the key to data loss prevention in your workplace. According to numerous studies, a high percentage of security breaches were caused by employee actions – criminal and unintentional.
Regardless of motive, you need to train your employees about the best practices for data security. Make sure they know how to maintain a clean machine, browse safely online, keep strong passwords, and use VPNs to encrypt connections to your servers – PureVPN or CyberGhost are great choices. More importantly, encourage them to report anything suspicious – whether in their devices or with a co-worker.
Tighten Your Office Policies
Managing access privileges to your company’s sensitive information is the next step to proactive security. The general rule of thumb is to be smart and limit your employees’ access to only what they need to fulfill their tasks. If you allow employees to bring their devices to work, be sure to use a Mobile Device Management Platform and set boundaries to what they can access.
Another strategy is to utilize multi-factor authentication in your password management solution. Doing so will elevate your workplace security with biometric identification such as voice recognition and fingerprint scanning.
Invest in Threat Intelligence
In the world of online security, zero-day attacks are among the most dangerous. These are vulnerabilities that hackers exploit before security companies are even aware of their existence. As your first line of defense, you can invest in a security infrastructure that leverages real-time data from crowd-sourced threat intelligence.
While threat intelligence services are paid, they offer the best way to stay updated with the latest security threats. It might be pricey for startups that don’t have a lot of data to protect, but for established enterprises that care about their customers’ data, then the investment is definitely worth it.
Backup on the Cloud
Although backing up your data is not exactly a proactive procedure, it’s better to have a failsafe in case of unforeseen disasters. Other than saving information on a physical hard drive, you can also leverage a remote backup service that lets you save your data on the cloud.
Most remote backup services have automated features to make sure your company’s integrity remains intact. It’s also a good idea to have backup “fire drills” and test how quickly you can restore data with your current platform.