Data breaches are a huge security risk for any company. Data can be considered the most valuable thing a company owns. Indeed, much of the work companies do can be considered the transfer of data and the information that lies within.
Perhaps one of the best ways to prevent outside data breaches is by always keeping your programs up to date. Patching should be done as soon as a patch is available. These patches often close security vulnerabilities that have been previously discovered. Therefore, by not patching and keeping your software up-to-date, otherwise fixed vulnerabilities can be exploited by a malicious third party.

Data should always been encrypted. Infiltration will occur. No matter how secure a company thinks it is, there will be vulnerabilities. Sadly, this is a fact of life simply because of how complicated programs are nowadays. However, by keeping data encrypted, any stolen data is worthless. That is, without the decryption key, the data will be completely unreadable. If the encryption is strong enough, the hackers should never be able to access the valuable data by decrypting it in a brute-force manner.

Unneeded data should always be properly disposed of. Oftentimes, records may be found by simply looking in a dumpster. Files should be properly destroyed. This often means shredding paper documents and burning or pulverizing other data bearing devices. Hard drives, flash drives, and similar units should also have their data erased securely. Simply pulling files into the recycle bin and clicking “empty” is not secure. Labs and even certain programs can recover files that were erased in this manner. Instead a secure erase must be done. Luckily, securely erasing files can be done via easily available programs online.

Controlling physical access is another way of keeping data secure. This means locking doors and using laptop locks if necessary. Locking filing cabinets and preventing access to areas without keys or a card are very easy ways to prevent data breaching. Stolen computers are vulnerable computers. By preventing simple break-ins, data is more secure.

Data breaches are a big problem for companies. A large enough breach can spell disaster for both the companies and its clients. Actively attempting to thwart breaches will lead to less, if any, breaches and therefore can minimize damage.

 

About The Author

Jason Denton is a writer for IDTSOA.com, the premier data breach prevention firm.