According to a recent report, 66% of SMBs would close or shut down following a data breach. What’s more, 60% of small companies would struggle to sustain their business for more than six months following an attack.
As your organization will likely possess a substantial amount of data, it is essential to safeguard it as much as possible. Find out how businesses can prevent data loss in 2021.
Prevent the Use of Portable Devices
Portable devices must be prohibited across the business to protect your sensitive data. Introduce clear guidelines to ensure your team never use a portable device, such as a USB flash drive, to transfer documents. Otherwise, your team could store customers’ personal data, staff records, and the company’s financial information on an unsecured external device. What’s more, your business devices or network could become infected with a malicious virus or malware.
Use Data Encryption
Protect your business-critical information with data encryption, as it will encode files and communications to protect it from a hacker. The encrypted data will become unreadable to a person who isn’t authorized to access it. Therefore, it can provide business owners with confidence that sensitive details will not fall into the wrong hands.
Invest in Master Data Management
In today’s modern world, organizations of every size must use a scalable, connected, and responsive master data management platform to manage all information. The right MDM solution can aggregate all customer data, integrate interactions and transactions, and help uses manage and use data to unlock new opportunities. As a result, you will know the exact location of every file to ensure it never slips through the cracks and falls into the wrong hands.
Master data management will provide your organization with premium system capabilities, such as data quality, identity resolution, universal ID, and enterprise data management capabilities.
Educate Your Team
Your employees will pose the biggest risk for your data. Prevent your business from experiencing a data breach by educating your team on various cybersecurity tactics, such as:
- Spotting the signs of a phishing scam
- Using an anti-virus program to download files
- Creating strong passwords across all accounts
- Learning how to set up two-factor authentication
- Securing a device on a break or at the end of the working day
- Clicking on banner ads
- Ignoring email attachments from unknown senders
Update Hardware
Hardware failure can lead to data loss, which can impact a company’s reputation and finances. A computer’s hard drive is sensitive to vibrations, shaking, bumps, and dropping. External issues may lead to hard drive failure, too, such as:
- Overheating
- Software corruption
- Tampering
- Power surges
- Exposure to magnetic fields
For this reason, you may need to update your hard drive every few years and conduct regular backups.
Conclusion
If you fail to organize and protect your data, your business could experience a serious breach that could lead to substantial data loss, a negative brand reputation, legal action, and a large fine that could destroy your organization.
Therefore, you must introduce a master data management system to manage your business-critical information, educate your team on cyber risks, and introduce policies to safeguard every file and communication.