Skip to main content

Three best practices to protect your data

Three best practices to protect your data.

While malware and phishing attacks have evolved over time and are constantly becoming more and more sophisticated, there are ways to protect your data from them. Here are two best practices to observe no matter the size of IT infrastructure needed in your company or organization to follow that can help safeguard your business.

Install a strong firewall
A firewall can help prevent unauthorized access to your network by monitoring access attempts and allowing or rejecting them. Firewalls are flexible in the sense that you can choose how stringent or lenient you want it to be in terms of limiting access. There are different kinds of firewalls, each serving a particular purpose and offering different protection levels. An MSP with deep experience with these technologies, as well as your specific industry, can be an excellent resource. Firewalls basically work to block unauthorized traffic to your network based on various factors including IP address, location and any other custom parameters that you may choose. Without a firewall, your network is essentially open, exposed to any one on the web, which puts you at serious risk.

Invest in antivirus software

Antivirus software programs identify viruses and other malicious attachments that cybercriminals may use to gain entry into your system or network. Make sure you invest in a good antivirus software and update it regularly so it can protect you against newer versions of malware that crop up with time. Be wary of consumer grade programs.

Train your staff

Train your staff to identify and steer clear of phishing emails, links and messages. All the protection in the world is no defense if your staff opens a phishing email and clicks ona malicious link. It is game over right then. Employees tend to assume you are the one responsible for maintaining data security. They often don’t realize they also play a role. Educate them on password hygiene, safe web surfing, and basic IT best practices even when using their own devices. You can provide training in-person and conduct mock drills and IT workshops. Also, consider sending regular emails on these topics so your staff remains alert. Security training isn't a one-off project. Also update your staff on any new vulnerabilities discovered and if there are any security updates or patches released for them in the market, then be sure to apply them immediately.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Migrate to the Cloud

Why Migrate to the Cloud If you haven't already considered migrating your data storage to the cloud, you are probably in the minority of businesses. While it may seem intuitive that somehow your data is safer if it is stored “ at home,” on location at the site of your business, that probably is not correct. Given the ability of skilled cloud service providers to provide redundancy and a level of security unattainable by a small business, storing all your crucial business data on site using in-house support is probably akin to keeping your money under the mattress instead of a bank. In this blog, we’ll explain what cloud data storage means, and some reasons why it may be a good business decision. In addition, we’ll quickly note some reasons some people get nervous about the security of cloud storage. What is cloud data storage? In an earlier time, a business would store all of its data on-site. Individual employees might keep all of their Word and Excel documents filed on their PC. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Protecting Your Data on the Cloud

Protecting Your Data on the Cloud Cloud storage has transformed the way businesses store and manage data, but for some, it also raises concerns about data protection. This blog post discusses a few security measures that can be deployed when using cloud storage. Data Encryption One of the fundamental security features of cloud storage is encryption. It ensures that your data remains confidential and protected from unauthorized access. Cloud storage providers use encryption algorithms to protect data both during transit and when stored in their servers. This means that even if an attacker intercepts the data in transit or gains access to the storage servers, the information remains unreadable. Encryption adds an extra layer of security, ensuring that your data remains confidential and secure. Access Controls and Identity Management Concerned about access to data? Cloud storage providers offer access controls and other mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access to your data. These feature...
Post a Comment
Read more

Leveraging your business data to drive better business outcomes

Leveraging your business data to drive better business outcomes Smaller firms may hear about AI and how data is driving the big corporations of the world, but they often don’t realize that they can do the same. The size and age of your business doesn’t have to be a limiting factor in whether you use data. Today’s blog is a quick look at data management for the small firm. The first lesson is: don’t take your data for granted. The basic business model for some large IT companies is monetizing the data that they collect. While this may not be your goal, you probably collect a great deal of data about your customers, prospects, and operations. An MSP can help you make better use of that data. Here are just three examples: Marketing Data tells you who is interested, when they're interested, and in what they are interested. Data can tell you where each individual prospect sits in the sales funnel, so your marketing messages reach them exactly where they are. It can also track the...
Post a Comment
Read more