As a business owner, you are responsible for the sensitive data that your company collects and stores. This could include customer payment details, employee records, or intellectual property owned by your business.
Ensuring that this information is kept safe from cybercriminals should be your number one priority.
Here are six tips to help you protect all of your company’s sensitive data:
#1 Use strong passwords
Your company passwords should be long and complex and should include a mixture of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Passwords should be at least 10 characters in length.
Also, make sure that any employees are using strong passwords too.
#2 Encrypt your data
Make sure that all of the files on your company’s devices are encrypted so they can’t be accessed by anyone else if the device is lost or stolen. This will also ensure that all of your company’s sensitive data remains safe should you need to replace any of your devices.
#3 Create an offline backup of your data, either on a hard drive or in the cloud
You should regularly back up all important files on another device, either an external hard drive or the cloud. This ensures that your business won’t be affected should a cybercriminal manage to access your sensitive data and encrypt it so you can no longer access it.
#4 Make sure that you have antivirus software installed and updated with the latest virus definitions
You should have at least one antivirus software package installed on each of your company’s devices. If you have more than one antivirus program installed, be sure that they are from different companies so that a virus designed for one won’t affect the other. Be sure to update your antivirus software regularly and check it has the latest virus definitions before doing a scan of your company’s devices.
#5 Install security patches when they are released by your operating system’s manufacturer to fix vulnerabilities in its code
You should regularly check that all of your company’s devices have the latest security patches installed by their manufacturers. These will fix any vulnerabilities found in the underlying operating systems and ensure that cybercriminals won’t be able to exploit these holes.
#6 Implement a public key infrastructure
You should implement a public key infrastructure in order to allow your business to easily send encrypted messages to customers and suppliers. You can reduce the risk of someone intercepting an email that contains sensitive data if you encrypt it before sending it. This is particularly important if you are exchanging information with someone that you don’t know or trust.
Whether you’re getting started with PKI or need help improving PKI program management, Keyfactor can help.
Conclusion
Your business is your biggest asset, and you owe it to yourself and your employees to protect it from cybercriminals. Following these six tips will help you do this. These include using strong passwords, encrypting all company data, creating an offline backup of your data, making sure that you have antivirus software installed on each device, installing the latest security patches from the manufacturer, and implementing a public key infrastructure.
