5 Steps You Can Take Right Now to Prevent a Data Security Breach

Everyone wants to avoid an embarrassing and costly data breach, but sometimes data security isn’t top of the list of many things that need attention. Here are 5 simple steps you can take today to prevent a data security breach in your company.

1. Identify your critical data. Not all data needs protection, but you need to make sure that your critical business assets are protected against a leak.
2. Restrict access. Not everyone needs to have access to your business critical data. It’s best to institute a need-to-know hierarchy that allows access to only those who need it.
3. Use encryption. Accessing and transferring data may make it vulnerable to sniffers and hackers. Protect all of your data, especially what’s transmitted via email, with strong, industry best encryption standards.
4. Identify your perimeter. It’s important to note that perimeters are ever-expanding thanks to technology advances. Consider where your data might end up: the cloud, mobile phones, tablets, and other BYOD. All of these instances pose a threat to a data leak.
5. Educate everyone. Put in place policies and procedures to guide effective, safe data use and storage. Then train all employees sufficiently and often on best practices to keeping your business critical information safe and secure.

If you’d like to read more information about cyber security risk assessment, download the free e-Book “How to Assess Cyber Security Risks & Ensure Compliance” from TBConsulting. Or contact one of our experts today to discuss your security needs.