3 Simple Steps to Protect Your Company’s Data

3 Simple Steps to Protect Your Company’s Data

It seems like every day there’s a news story about another data breach. Today it’s increasingly important to take a proactive approach to ensure the safety of sensitive information.

It’s obvious why hackers would target banks and insurance companies, but the truth is every business that has information that may be valuable is at risk. If you have payment records, employee data, or personally identifiable information about your employees or customers, you may be too.

This isn’t just a “big business” problem. In fact, 60% of attacks target small and medium-sized businesses, which can be troubling if you don’t have the resources to implement countermeasures. Beyond the cost and business disruption, data breaches can erode the trust of your customers and damage your reputation.

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Taking a proactive approach can help to alleviate risk and improve data security without the need for a massive cash outlay. Here are three simple areas your business can address right away:

1. Reduce Reliance on Paper Records – Paper records put your business at risk. An errant payroll report left at the printer, or customer records kept in an unlocked filing cabinet, can disappear without anyone realizing they’re gone. Add to that the risks of natural disasters like fire, flood or simple human error. Digitizing old records and moving your office to a paperless workflow can mitigate these risks. The increased control offered by digital records enhances security and can reduce human errors like misfiled documents. It can also cut costs and increase efficiency.
2. Secure ALL of Your Devices – While digital records are safer than paper, they’re only as secure as your device. It’s shocking to know how much information can be recovered from an old device or hard drive. Couple this with the risk of stolen devices that comes with a more mobile workforce and you can see why encryption and proper disposal of sensitive data is vital. ALL devices, tablets, phones and computers need to be protected. Encryption and mobile device management allowing remote deletion in the event of theft are crucial. Many companies have an often overlooked risk right in the middle of their offices…the multifunction printer! Simple technologies like password protection, hard drive encryption and data overwrite can make these devices secure.
3. Limit Network and Office Access – Hard copy theft can often be overlooked with all of the attention paid to hacking. Typically, the easiest way to steal information is to just walk in and take it! Unfortunately, many businesses forget that taking simple precautions like locking filing cabinets could prevent theft.

Taking simple steps like the ones above can go a long way towards making your data safe and secure! For more tips on how to keep your data safe, download our complimentary ebook below for proactive strategies to mitigate risks associated with hard copy documents and ideas to merge paper based processes into digital workflows.