What You Can Do Today to Protect Your Data

By Matt Brennan

We’ve all experienced the pit in our stomach – the bottomless anxiety – that comes with lost data. This is especially true if it’s data or information critical to the central nature of your business.

There are active measures you can take to make sure that you can do to better protect your data. As mentioned below, regular backups help. But there are measures you can take to make your data safer and reduce the chances you’ll end up in a compromising situation to begin with.

Back it Up

This is among the more common sense yet overlooked solutions. Too many businesses have an inadequate strategy when it comes to backing their data up. You can use external hard drives or cloud solutions to provide a duplicate copy of your most important data. This makes the recovery process simple.

Data Encryption

There is more than one way to have your data stolen. One scenario is being hacked, but another scenario may involve having a laptop or mobile device stolen. We’ve grown so comfortable with the conveniences of easy access, that we often forget the downsides.

If you have access to customer or client data, bank information, or other sensitive data, your devices should likely be encrypted. A secure password, key file, or special USB device can all be used to encrypt files. You don’t need to be an IT specialist to encrypt your data anymore. There are practical solutions that make safeguarding your data easy.

Power Off

Shutting off your computer when you’re done with it is a common piece of advice for saving energy, but it has another benefit as well. It removes your computer from the internet, and takes away the ability for hackers to install malware or commit any other type of cyber crime. Simply narrowing this window of time can help.

Disable File Sharing

If you’re not frequently sharing files back and forth through this method, the risk may outweigh the benefits. File sharing makes the contents of one computer visible on another. This can open you up to a significant level of unnecessary risk.

Protect Your Wireless Network

There are a lot of reasons that people may try to access your Wi-Fi network, and not all of them are outright malicious. For instance, you may simply have people near you who are looking for free Wi-Fi access. But without a secure password, your data may be at unnecessary risk.

You can hide your W-Fi network so that it does not broadcast the name.

Install Updates

These updates can be a gigantic inconvenience for the user, but they really do keep your equipment safer. The updates contain security patches that protect your computer, and failing to do so can put your computer at risk. It’s best to set your operating system to update automatically. Many systems allow you to schedule the updates so that they don’t interfere with working hours.

Conclusion

When data is lost or compromised, it can be devastating to your business. Taking these simple measures can help keep your business safe. Don’t take the day-to-day operations of your business for granted. Make sure that you do everything you can to protect yourself in a worst case scenario – and minimize the odds of data loss from occurring in the first place.