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, ◊ ◊ 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