As a business ow
ner, the last thing you should have to worry about is how to quickly restore all of your critical business files in a crisis. It’s crucial and necessary for survival that any data you have saved on your computer and other devices is securely backed up and always available in case of a system crash or catastrophic event.
There are 10 data security best practices that we suggest at Nordic Backup to ensure your information is accessible at all times, no matter what the circumstance.
1. Backup your data. Backing up your data is probably the most important thing you can do as a data security practice for your business. If your data is compromised by a virus, deleted by human error, or lost to hardware damage, you can restore a your data without missing a beat when you have a cloud based backup plan in place. Most IT professionals recommend that you backup your files daily. However, this can cause an issue if a virus has already taken over your data and by backing up, you actually end up replacing your non corrupt files with corrupt ones. As a business, you need to find a backup provider that saves and can restore previous file versions, so that you never encounter a total loss. It’s always safer (and less expensive) to pay for preventative measures than to pay for all of the repercussions that come with a total data loss. With the proper backup system in place, your business can recover from a data scare quickly and painlessly.
Encrypt all data. This basically means that information is encoded to only allow authorized parties to access and read it. Stored data, file systems, and any transfers should all be encrypted to help you keep your system’s content private. Although encryption does not protect against theft, equipment loss, or virus attacks, it does make any data useless to anyone who doesn’t have the key to unlock it.
Maintain security patches. Staying updated on your security hardware and software is crucial to ensuring that its working at its highest performance capability. Automatic updating keeps your system working with the most current anti-malware and antivirus signatures.
Secure websites. Make sure to scan your website daily for malware, and set the Secure flag for all session cookies. Ensuring your website is running safe can prevent system crashes due to hackers and viruses. If your website is used to pass along any type of secure data, including credit card information, make sure you have an SSL in place. An SSL will provide a secure connection between internet browsers and your website to protect the transmission of private data.
Restrict the use of removable media. Removable media consists of USB drives, external hard disks, external DVD writers, and other writeable media. By limiting the amount of these you put into your devices, you are lessening the chance of one containing any hidden malicious software that could infect your system. Using no removable media at all also prevents accidental loss of important information that could be found by anyone. Furthermore, when content is stored on a personal portable device for convenience, it may not always be accessible by the main system to ensure that it is backed up with all other current files.
Do away with data and devices securely. When it comes to cleaning up your computer files or throwing out damaged devices, it’s extremely important that sensitive data cannot be recovered again. There are plenty of free tools available to securely erase data to meet public standards. When a system becomes useless to you for any given reason, make sure to thoroughly destroy and demagnetize it in order to prevent any data from being retrieved.If you’re unsure of how to do it yourself, you can always look into electronic-specific recycling facilities that offer responsible destruction of devices.
Access Control. Restricting the number of users you allow to access your devices is a great way to minimize possible threats. Set permissions and limit the number of employees that have the ability to view sensitive data, while simultaneously keeping a consolidated list of passwords and other identifying information in an encrypted location.
Use a spam filter on email servers and implement auditing. Blocking spam from infiltrating your inbox is a primitive way to prevent any data on your devices from being accessed by outside parties. Understand how to identify junk mail even if it comes from a source you may think can be trusted. Train your employees on how to avoid phishing websites and emails as well so that their data is not compromised.
Utilize network-based security software. Use firewalls, anti-virus, intrusion detectors, and monitoring to screen for attacks, port scans, unauthorized users and other “over-the-network” attacks and attempts at security breaches. Always keep your firewall on and only accept incoming network connections from trusted applications.
Be on the lookout for suspicious activity. Some backup providers, including Nordic Backup, provide you with an emailed activity report so you can see how many files have been modified on a day to day basis. If you notice a higher than usual number of updated files — you may have a virus on your hands. Early detection is the best way to keep your data safe, and recover more of it.
Having your data accessible no matter what happens to your system is a vital part of running a business. With Nordic Backup, all it takes is a few simple clicks to browse and download any file from any computer because all of your backups on all your devices are always up to date. To get started implementing these data security best practices for your business, find the backup planthat’s perfect for your business.
