For most of the online world, data breaches have become one of the highest security issues. Businesses and customers are both concerned with data protection. They’re focusing on more ways to keep private information from being breached.
Customers are increasingly wary about sharing data with companies, for fear of it being leaked. Many businesses are reliant on customer data. To help put customers at ease, businesses must foster a trusting relationship with transparency and proactive policies.
Cloud Data Protection Strategies
One of the most vulnerable data storage places is the Cloud. Transferring data to and from the cloud is a weak spot in security. Data breaches of any kind become a breach of trust with customers. A customer won’t trust a company again once data has been leaked. Though a cloud provider is responsible for protecting the space, companies must go above and beyond to ensure that private information is protected.
Encrypt User Data
One way to ensure cloud data protection during transfers is encryption. Encryption scrambles the data so that only authorized parties with the encryption key can understand the information. It might seem like an obvious solution, but not even half of businesses use this technique.
Verify, Don’t Store
Instead of storing all of your client’s data, use third-party processors to handle sensitive information. A third-party processor’s entire job is protecting data, so they will have the most stringent, up-to-date security measures. Instead of keeping vulnerable information on your servers, verify it through these processors, and avoid a potential breach.
Employee Training
All the cyber security in the world isn’t going to combat human error. Train staff about data protection policies and make them aware of the legal ramifications of an error. Employees don’t like to jump through extra hoops to do their jobs, so help them understand why these steps are necessary.
Continuous Data Protection
Continuous data protection is not a passive action. It requires proactive thinking and taking steps to stay ahead of the curve.
Regular Testing
In a world where hacking is becoming more sophisticated, the bare minimum security is unfortunately no longer going to cut it. For this reason, businesses need to regularly test their systems for vulnerabilities in their security systems. You might need to hire a cybersecurity expert to identify coding issues. At the very least, you need to scan your system regularly for malware and invest in high-quality security apps.
Update Preemptively
You can’t always wait until it is convenient to update. Don’t delay until a quiet season to divert the resources needed for updates. Therefore, the longer you wait, the more vulnerable your systems are. There is an entire industry dedicated to selling the vulnerable spots that exploit the vulnerabilities in software. As such, you should stay ahead of the issue and always keep your systems up-to-date.
Data Protection Software
Data protection software is generally an umbrella software that covers a wide range of services. While not every software will include every service, but the ideal ones will include most or all of them. A couple of things to look for in protection software are:
- Data Management Systems
- Sensitive Data Protection
- Data Loss Prevention
- Vulnerability Scanners
- Threat Detection
Once you have found a reliable data protection company, it’s important to know how they complete these tasks. Of course, different software companies approach this in different ways. The best ones will always provide measures to keep you and your employees accountable and the data as safe as possible. Things to look for include:
- An off-site system that is protected from events on the network
- Data persistence service enabling management of backups and the reversal of changes
- Identification method for sensitive data and graded protection measures
- Vulnerability and risk management
- Log of actions available for compliance auditing
- Demo or a no-cost assessment
Choose StayTouch
Build a solid business network with StayTouch. As you navigate your business life, StayTouch will help you keep your contact information organized and updated. Securely store contact information, website links, notes, and more. Learn more by contacting us today.