Businesses harbour enormous amounts of information about clients, investors, employees, and their industry. Often this data is sensitive or private, and leaking it could cause detrimental damage to those involved. Companies need to take responsibility for the information they possess and put measures in place to protect it.
Business owners need to prioritise cybersecurity to prevent any attacks and leaks from happening. Here are a few ways you can protect your business data.
Dispose of old hard drives
You should only keep the data you currently need. Businesses should outline a plan on how, when and where they will dispose of data that is no longer required. Confidential information should be removed from any retired or reused devices to ensure it can’t be retrieved in the future. Your IT partner should overwrite data multiple times to ensure it’s completely irretrievable once you have disposed of it.
Use a hard drive destruction service to dispose of all your old hard drives properly. The destruction of old data is just as important as protecting your current data.
Set up automatic software updates
Cyber hackers can exploit older versions of software to access your company data. It’s important to keep your systems up to date so you can use the new and improved software. You can set up automatic updates to happen overnight or in the background when using the device.
Use business credit cards for expenses
Most business credit cards have a zero-liability fraud protection feature. If you find a fraudulent payment on your statement, most companies won’t charge you during the dispute process. You can also set spending limits and transaction notifications on employee credit cards.
Stay up to date with cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity is constantly developing and improving. You need to stay up to date on the latest cybersecurity programmes available and any common hacks. Secure your business network and every device on it with advanced cybersecurity software. While it may seem like a large initial expense, cybersecurity can save you a lot of money down the line.
Safeguard passwords
Company passwords should be changed regularly. An optimised password can protect your data and make it harder for hackers to access your data. Make your passwords at least eight characters long with numbers and non-standard characters. Change all company passwords every month and avoid choosing anything predictable, like your name or address.
Educate your employees
You need to educate your team on the appropriate cybersecurity practices. For example, all employees need to know the signs of a fraudulent email and how to handle it. Hold cybersecurity workshops to learn about password management, popular hacks and how to protect your data.
Keep your company and employees safe from cyber-attacks with these simple steps.