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No matter what kind of business you run, you will need data to run it well. When you collect data, you can market to the right people in the right way, and knowing more about how your business is running will enable you to change direction if need be. From tracking visitors’ IP addresses to names and delivery details to search histories and payment details, there is a lot of necessary and valuable data to collect as a business.
The issue is that although this data is essential to you, it is also important to cybercriminals. They will want the information just as much as you do so they can commit fraud, theft, and identity theft. As much as you put hard work into obtaining this data, the cybercriminal will happily take it from you. So it is crucial to protect this data as much as possible. Here are just some of the ways you can do it.
Data protection is such an important part of running a business (if the data is stolen, you will lose credibility and potentially be liable for damages) that it pays to outsource the work if you’re not one hundred per cent sure of what to do. Experts in managed IT services can undertake this work for you as part of their remit. They can also ensure that your internal computer network runs smoothly and that your website has little to no downtime, among other things.
When you have professionals taking care of such a critical element of running a business, and you know your data is entirely safe (outsourcing means it is monitored 24/7, which isn’t something you would necessarily be able to do yourself) and you can concentrate on growing the business in the ways you understand best.
We all use so many passwords every day that we probably don’t think of them as that important. They’re just a way to get into a website or document. However, passwords are actually crucially important for data protection, and weak passwords will leave you just as vulnerable to a cyberattack as not having a password at all. Cybercriminals can easily guess a weak password or hacking software will be able to determine what it is. This is especially problematic if your password is the same for everything you have to log into. When a cybercriminal guesses one password, they will have access to everything you’ve ever signed up for.
Having strong passwords is therefore of the utmost importance. Educate your team about creating strong passwords and why it is important to have different passwords for everything you need to log into, and your data security will increase significantly.
To ensure that every team member is doing the right thing when it comes to your data security, it’s wise to create data protection policies. You can include your policy on passwords, but so too can any information about people using their own devices, about sharing information, about what they should or should not do in terms of incoming emails, and about what sites people can visit when they are at work or using business IT equipment.
With these policies in place, it will be much easier to control your data protection and ensure your business is as secure as possible.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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