Data is a company’s biggest asset. Should it ever be compromised, the repercussions can be plentiful. If you don’t protect company data, you could lose hundreds of dollars, your reputation, and, in some instances, your business.
As you hear about data breaches from big companies, the news likely alarms you. You wonder how you can protect your company from the same. Below are a few suggestions for how to keep your assets from being jeopardized.
1. Assess What Needs Protection
What information do you need to protect? Some types of info might include:
- Customer data
- Company financial records
- Marketing plans
- Trade secrets
- Employee records
- Client contracts
2. Determine to Store Your Data
Where you currently store your data can tell you a lot about how secure it is. For instance, if you store your information in the cloud, you might want to consider investing in software that enhances cloud security. This software will not only secure your data but also back it up in case it becomes compromised for reasons beyond your control.
3. Put Protections in Place
You now know what needs protection. Your next step is to employ procedures that will help you to put protections in place. The safeguards listed below are measures you can take in the office to ensure the safety of your company’s assets.
Encryption
Encrypt files and data that are transmitted via email or stored in the cloud. Encrypting your documents will translate them into codes. Only those who have permission and the correct passwords will be able to decipher the documents.
Password Protections
When it comes to accessing company databases and software, strong password creation is vital. You should ensure that your passwords are unique and not easily identifiable by someone from outside your company. You might need to change your passwords frequently, especially when employees leave your organization.
Secure Payment Portals
Does your business presently collect consumer cardholder information? If so, it is imperative that you are utilizing secure payment portals to keep this information safe.
Data Backup
There are several ways to backup company data. You can save it to another space on the computer, use an external hard drive, or work with a data center. Come up with an adequate procedure for your backups. Your procedure should include how frequently you do your backups and what measures you will use to do so.
Additional Protections
Ensure you have the best anti-virus software, firewalls, and intrusion detection in place. These will ward off a lot of cyber threats that are out there that could compromise your assets.
4. Training
Internal factors, particularly ill-informed employees, can compromise company assets. Employees who are unaware of the risk factors involved with company data breaches and how to prevent them can heighten company vulnerabilities.
You could be at risk if employees access information on a Wi-Fi network or leave software open for others to manipulate. Even losing a company phone could be dangerous. It is essential you provide consistent training on how to protect company data so that your employees are always informed.
Make sure your training includes an agreement form for employees to sign. The form should state they’ve taken the training, understand the risks, and will abide by the policies and procedures set forth in it. This contract removes some of the liability from your firm and also provides peace of mind.
5. Plan for the Worst Case Scenario
Despite your planning and preparation, there is still the possibility that your company assets could be compromised. It is beneficial to have a plan in place to retrieve this information and restore confidence in your business. Having a backup plan will also minimize the blow to your company, vendors, and customers.
- Identify what data has been compromised and how this loss will impact your company and/or clients.
- Change your passwords, servers, and storage methods to prevent further intrusions.
- Assess how the breach happened. Was it internal or external?
- Contact a data security company to determine how you can prevent future breaches.
- Collaborate with law enforcement agencies if necessary.
- If the data breach will impact them directly, notify your customers.
- Offer assistance as best you can in securing customers’ identities. You should inform clients of the need to contact their credit card companies, as well as three major credit bureaus.
- Assure customers that you have resolved the matter, and explain how you will protect their information going forward.
- If necessary, be prepared to offer your customers restitution for their losses.
It goes without saying that in the last few years alone there have been an alarming amount of company data breaches. These have directly impacted customers, as well as the reputations of the firms who have been hacked. The best move you can make to protect your company from suffering the same fate is to plan and prepare.
Nothing is foolproof, and threats are constantly changing. But being prepared ahead of time minimizes your risks and, at the very least, ensures that you’re ready should a breach occur. If you have not yet taken the proper steps, be sure to take action now before it’s too late.
Originally published 8/24/16; updated 6/18/20 to add infographic.
Dana Davis
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Hi Dana Davi,
Your article is really helpful. data Protection is very important for a company. Thanks.
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Nice blog post about how we can protect our companies data from our competitors. Now a days keeping data secret is very important. Nice blog post keep the good work going.
All these steps are very important during this time when data is the most important and precious thing!
You almost covered everything important
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Hey Dana, your articles list’s out so many different aspects of data security. Creating awareness among employees and compliance by them is a very crucial aspect.
This is really helpful post for us, i think every startup should follow these steps in order to protect their data & security, which is more important than anything else now.
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Business owners will be thrilled with these updated measures to protect company’s most precious information.
I like the contingency plan whereby one plans for the worst.
By doing so you will be well prepared for any uncertainties.
Thanks for sharing.
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I really learned a lot. The step by step guide was very easy to follow thanks for sharing.
These are such great tips for protecting company data! Losing valuable data/files can be really devastating, and these are very helpful! Thanks for sharing this!
You make a nice point about preparation. While there are no guarantees, it’s a good step to take, as you share.
Hi Dana,Thanks for sharing the valuable information to protect business data.Company data is very important for business growth so we need to secure data.that’s why we have to take suggestions to protect data.
Hi Dana,I really found your article very useful and informative for everyone, thanks for this awesome post Dana. You have written this post beautifully. I will surely follow these 5 steps to protect my company data.
Hey, interesting I am researching just this right now. I want a safe place to store my clients data, plus notes from sessions. Along with keeping other information, I would love to hear your recommendations for places online for safe, private storage. Look forward to hearing from you…
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Hi Gina,
Are you looking to just store client data, or for a way to manage projects using that data? We use Trello extensively which is private; however, it doesn’t really provide a way to keep the data backed up against loss.
My favorite platform is Wrike. We keep all our projects in it and I use it to manage a huge freelance network. The requests come in from clients, and get assigned to the ghost writer they’re requesting. Everything about each project is discussed within that project. Word Docs and images can be attached. We use custom workflows extensively and my assistants monitor dates to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
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Personal data is important, but the data of a company is more important. To protect the company data, along with encryption, we must take care of corruption or damaged.
By that, we should use RAID or backup more frequently to protect the data from losing, somehow.
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Thank you so much Dana, for posting informative article. This is very useful blog for ours Companies data Protection.Thanks for sharing.
really very inst resting article from you admin… and thanks for this back link…
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thanks again
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Thank you for sharing the information here. Its much informative and really i got some valid information. You had posted the amazing article. it was really helpful. I’ll try it!
They’re definitely important to keep and very important to back everything up and decreasing the chance of losing company data which could badly impact upon the company towards the future.
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Hi Dana Davis,
T hank you so much for posting this article. I think every company should follow these 5 steps in order to protect their company data.
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Thanks for sharing such a informative content. I also try to share useful information for these things in my blog. Your advices was very helpful.
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Hi Dana,
This is great post, i think every company should follow these steps in order to protect their data, Data is the most crucial thing for any company.
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Hi there
you have posted the very important topic , it is the essential part of a company to protect company data , which is most of the time mis used , some of the times company employee only misuse the data , i agree with Harris that training will help it out , but what about employee who misuse , some of the private data should only be kept by the owner and he is the person to access and maintain it . Thanks a lot for sharing such a valuable post , i also got some new ideas about data security of a company .
Hello Dana
Great post! Your article was very well written ,insightful and very informative. Dana those 5 steps are very crucial to protect company data.
I especially feel training is the upmost of importance. Because if employees aren’t informed or taught how to keep data safe or make sure its secured all the time you are going to have huge security breaches.
Again thanks for sharing this valuble post/
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