Minimize Risks to Data with these 3 Best Practices

data breaches can be prevented with proper security measures

Data breaches are among one of the most dangerous and costly situations for businesses, something no industry wants to deal with. The reality, however, is that these scenarios are common and cause severe problems for the unprepared.

As protection methods and threats to counter those protection methods evolve on a near daily basis, it’s important to uphold practices to safeguard information. While it’s important to consistently update your IT security strategy, adapting as required, there are key practices which work as a de-facto protection standard. In this article, we’ll go over three which will help minimize breach risk to your data.

1. Minimize the Data

Though it sounds redundant, it still holds true. Thieves can’t access what isn’t there. The idea is that you store only essential information in secure, limited places. The broader your data saturation is, the easier it is for dangerous third parties to target it.

Limit access to necessary parties when handling data. For instance, some IT security personnel should only have access to the contents of a company’s accounting network, and even then, it should be handled on an “as needed” basis.

Expired data should also be removed, especially access information from previous/leaving employees.

2. Apply Practices Network Wide

In order to truly protect your information, you must look at how it is handled and protected over the entirety of your network. This includes protocol regarding information offsite, remote worker solutions and third party data storage.

Every aspect of data management needs a list of procedures to ensure it is safeguarded. Employees should be well versed in security practices, the information they access, and security requirements when accessing data off-site. Management and project planning must also follow security protocol to ensure data goes where it’s supposed to.

Remember: no perimeter network or hybrid firewall will help you if your own workforce doesn’t follow safety procedures for data.

3. Conduct Security/Risk Audits

It is quite alluring to adopt a complex security system and set of protocols, then “set it and forget it.” After all, it was a hefty investment, so it’s got to work, right?

The problem is, security standards that don’t undergo “stress tests” are doomed to fail.  It’s crucial to conduct risk assessments every several months to identify weak points in your network. This can be conducted in-house by your security team, or you can work with third parties who can help.

These assessments will reveal new risk areas, something that you might miss without them. For example, management consoles aren’t behind a DMZ, meaning external parties have a direct line to crucial admin info.

There are still dozens of other methods you can apply to create a safer network for your data, such as disaster recovery plan creation, staff training, segmented networks, and so on. The most important action a business can take is to prepare.  Stratosphere Networks works with businesses of all sizes to do just that.  Give our security experts a call at (877)599-3777 or fill out a contact form to learn about how you can safeguard your business data today.

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