No business would dream of hiring an office that didn’t have a lock on the door – and likewise, no company should ever think of operating without IT security measures in place. One data leak can make the difference between a business staying afloat or going under.
A weak password or an unchanged one (you’d be amazed at how many businesses have simple sequences like ‘1234’ guarding important data) could result in the leakage of customer details, hurting if not destroying the trust that hundreds of customers have placed in you.
You may not hear about small companies falling victim to data breaches; generally only when it happens to big companies like TalkTalk does it tend to make the news. However, in 2012 Verizon revealed that over half of small businesses fall prey to data breaches. You need to take steps to ensure that you’re not in that half.
Some things you should consider while setting up a good IT security system include:
- Do all the staff working for me know the importance of a strong password?
- Are they likely to need extra training about passwords and IT security?
- Which of my employees need access to the most sensitive data? How can I ensure that as few as possible do?
- What data protection laws apply to my business?
- How often do passwords need to be changed? Once a week, once a month?
- Do I have a reliable Cloud service provider?
- What virus protection program should I use?
- How much money needs to be spent on IT security?
Budgeting for IT security is one of the most important things you as a company can spend your money on. The cost of a data breach will almost certainly have a much, much greater monetary cost than the security system did.
Extra staff training and a clear security policy can be big boons to a company that deals in data. You need to make sure that everyone who works for you understands the importance of keeping information safe, and that there are clear guidelines regarding passwords, employee access to sensitive data, and the use of computers in general.
Stage2Data can help your company with many of the most vital aspects of IT security. Our Security-As-A-Service (SaaS) cost-effective service can offer advanced security tools that protect data even when in the cloud, as well as 24×7 monitoring to ensure that your company never has to suffer the consequences of a data breach. Talk to our team for more information!
