Preventing Data Breaches: A Simple Guide

FEATURED POST

Stolen data is bad news for just about any organization.

Not only does it contravene GDPR, but it can lead to all kinds of losses, such as reputation, where customers lose trust in you, legal, where you find yourself in legal trouble because of the loss of data,  and even financial losses as well. After all, fines from regulating bodies can be heavy.

That is why it's crucial to understand how to prevent data breaches. Read on to find out more.

Know Your Enemy

The first thing you can do to minimize the risk of a data breach in your organization is to get to know your enemy.

This means having a good understanding of the most common threats to data security in your organization such as phishing attacks, weak passwords and employee misuse and more.

• Phishing emails: Emails claiming they are from a legitimate source, that trick users into giving up their personal information, such as login info.

• Weak passwords: Passwords that are not robust make it easier for people to guess their way into your systems and network.

• Insider threats: Misuse and abuse of your systems by those who work for you.

• Unpatched software: There’s a reason that most cybersecurity guides recommend keeping on top of software updates. It's because when you don’t you leave your system vulnerable to security breaches.

• Malware and ransomware: Software designed to steal or encrypt your information, either holding it to ransom or stealing it away.

Boost IAM Controls

Once you have a better idea of the kind of things you can go up against when it comes to data breaches, it makes sense to begin to take action that can limit their frequency.

One such action is to reinforce your IAM or Identity Access Management solutions.

IAM solutions are all about restricting the amount of access everyone belonging to or working with your business has to sensitive data.

The idea is that access is given according to a security level, preventing lower levels from being anywhere near the more sensitive stuff.

IAM systems are also great for minimising data breaches because they automatically remove access when a person leaves your company, and they log and audit user activity, ensuring you know exactly who is accessing what, and report any changes if they are incorrect.  

Increase Employee Awareness

Last of all, one of the most important cogs in the wheel of improved data security is making sure that your employees are aware of cybersecurity risks and how they can do their part to minimize them.

Usually, the best way to do this is through thorough training, which should include how to create unique, strong passwords, compliance rules, and how to spot and deal with phishing scams.

Simulations can be especially important for the latter, especially as they get more and more sophisticated every day.

Last of all, do not forget that part of minimising data breaches in your organization is making security everybody’s responsibility.

This should include a system of reporting issues that avoids assigning blame.

Remember, you can resolve a reported security issue if you know it's there much faster than if you have to first detect it.