EVOLVE Business and Professional Magazine November 2016 | Page 36
Don’t be an Easy
TARGET
Safeguard Your Business Data
by Jason Ionno
Y
ahoo! Anthem Healthcare. Ashley Madison. Target. Home
2. ASSET DOCUMENTATION
but if it can happen to them, it can happen to you. In fact, in
based services and a hybrid of mobile and on-premise computer
Depot. Google. Major data breaches make major headlines,
2015, 90 percent of all businesses—large and small—were exposed
to some kind of external data threat.1 Most businesses collect and
store a lot of sensitive information on their computers: Customer
the list goes on. However, you may be surprised to learn that many
small and medium sized businesses don’t take relatively easy, but
very important, steps to protect their business information, such as
making regular backups and automatically updating antivirus and
antimalware software.2 Before you turn the page t hinking this is not
relevant to your business, consider these facts:
◊
Recovering from a data breach costs a small business
indirect costs, such as loss of customers, brand damage,
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systems, knowing every piece of your information technology (IT)
infrastructure, how it’s accessed and how it’s all connected, is key
to protecting your data. Set up a secure database to keep track of
payment information, personnel files, bank account details, and
Knowledge is power. With most businesses utilizing cloud-
almost $40,000 out-of-pocket on average, not including
and future breach prevention.
1
Nearly 60 percent of businesses that lose their data will
close their doors within 6 months of a disaster or breach.
3
Criminals increasingly target smaller businesses precisely
because of their lax approach to data security.4
Lost information is often impossible to replace and is dangerous
all of your hardware and software, including all passwords and
support contact information. In the event of a service interruption
or data loss, correct (and current) IT asset documentation is critical
to restoring your data in a timely manner.
3. SOFTWARE UPDATES
Would your customers still trust you if their payment
information fell into criminal hands as a result of a data breach at
your business? The NTT Group 2015 Global Threat Intelligence
Report reveals that 76 percent of observed vulnerabilities on
enterprise networks in 2014 were two or more years old and already
had patches or updates available.5 Keeping your software and
network systems updated will greatly reduce your risk of security
breaches. Growing businesses use an increasing variety of software
programs, and it can be a daunting task to keep everything patched.
Luckily, there are inexpensive services to assist you with this task,
ensuring the updates do not negatively affect your IT systems.
in the hands of criminals. Luckily, there are many things you can
4. CONTENT FILTERING
every business continuity plan that you can implement to decrease
on the wrong link in an email, on a website, or on social media or
hardware failure, or natural disaster.
will help stop these events from occurring on your computers and
do to safeguard your business data. Below are five critical parts to
your business’s risk in the event of a security breach, critical
1. OFFSITE BACKUPS
Imagine your system crashes and you lose all your data. Could
you run your business? The most important requirement of any
business continuity plan is the replication of your data to a secure
offsite location. Automated offsite backups typically employ an
easy-to-use program that runs on your computer or server and
Most modern destructive viruses originate from a user clicking
other platforms. Having device and perimeter content filtering
mobile devices. Combined with antivirus and anti-spam software,
you will decrease the chances of losing data to a virus or malicious
user. An added benefit of content filtering is the ability to monitor
and control unauthorized web browsing, which can save
your company money lost on non-business use of Facebook,
YouTube, etc.
backs up nightly to another location. With current backups of your
5. PLAN AHEAD
almost any breach or loss.
of all sizes. Even the smallest loss (a misplaced cell phone with
data and a defined plan to restore them, you can recover from
| 36 | EVOLVE BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
Data loss has very real financial implications for businesses