The importance of data security in an organisation.
Do you have the appropriate precautions in place for data security within your business?
Cybercrime is a very real issue, and it gets worse by the day.
Trying to stay on top of keeping your information safe can prove a massive task…
Why is data security so important? If you’re in a business that stores customer information, then you have a duty to keep their personal information safe. Not only is it a legal requirement to have the correct GDPR policies in place, but your customers have put their trust in you to keep their details safe.
Here are some simple steps you can take to keep your, and your customer’s information safe.
1. Do you change your passwords often enough? Or do you even change them at all?
Using the same passwords year after year can have a massive impact on your data security… You could be hacked without you even knowing and they could store your information for another time. Another thing to think about is, have you ever told someone a password? No matter how long ago it was, if you haven’t changed your passwords since, then they could still have it.
2. Do you use the same password for everything? And yes, I know you do!
It may seem convenient, and you may think it makes your life 100x easier than trying to remember different passwords for everything, but trust me, this is definitely not the right way around it. If someone ever got hold of your password, imagine how much they could have access to… your bank account… social media… work databases and systems… customer data…
These are all personal details that could be abused in the wrong hands.
This is a very easy change to implement, but an extremely important one.
3. Sharing your passwords…
Whilst it may be necessary to share passwords with others sometimes, especially in a business, it should be something that you are monitoring.
If someone leaves the business that once had access to a password, you should change it.
In addition to this, you should only be giving employees access to information if they absolutely need it to complete their job… by limiting access to certain things such as passwords or data, you are reducing the risk of being hacked, by quite a large percentage.
4. Keeping your software updated.
This plays a crucial part in the prevention of cybercrime. As software systems become dated, people find more and more ways of being able to hack into them with ease. We all know how annoying it can be to run updates, but I can assure you that it will cause less disruption than a cyber attack would!
5. How difficult are your passwords?
A birthday, a last name, or a significant business date is probably not going to make the most challenging password for someone to try and figure out. Put some more thought into your passwords to keep them extra secure.
6. How strong are your security measures?
Do your employees know what security questions to ask before giving out any information over the phone or email?
Remember that it may not be the person they say on the phone. It is important to be sure that this is your customer that you are speaking with, before handing out any personal information or advice.
So… after reading this, it’s probably a good time to go and change your passwords if you haven’t recently done so…
…and as always, never open emails from unrecognised addresses!
