Data explosion, hackers and cyber threats are on the rise, and so is your risk of losing critical company data that can run you out of business. In response, many small and medium businesses have put data security as a top priority; have you?
A recent study by Forrester reported that 36% of small and medium businesses (SMB’s) are planning on increasing IT security spending by at least 5%, and 25% of them say they will increase this spending to 10%. Forrester stated that the reasoning for their increased budget for security is, “the threat of data loss has emerged as the top cyber-security challenge or threat identified by these managers.”
You and your company have entrusted cloud servers to valuable and crucial data, including passwords, financials, transactions, conversations and much more. Huge data players such as Apple, AT&T and Google have all admitted that they have had data breaches and failures of their servers. Why ensure 100% trust with these companies when even their data security is not seamless? While consumers generally want to trust the servers and companies that they give this data to, the fact of the matter is that no data is 100% loss proof.
ABC News reported on this issue, “’And [it reminds them that] if they don’t keep that information secure there will be consequences, both in terms of finances, remediating the breach, as well as the loss of trust by their customers.’”
The data that a company can lose due to breaks in security ranges vastly, but the answer to fixing this problem is the same across the board: create a tight security program with all employees in compliance.
To do you this, you must:
1. Ensure your important files are encrypted.
2. Never send a password via IM or email. Always send it another way, such as via text or in person.
3. Review your IT security policy to ensure they are protecting the right data.
4. Confer with colleagues to ensure everyone is employing the same security measures when handling important data.
5. Have a backup plan in place in case data is ever lost. Carbonite provides great file backups for your computer, and we at Backupify provide over 19 cloud backup services.
Surprisingly, the main cause of data loss is by user error, not computer error. We have found that approximately 60% of companies that lose critical data will go out of business within 6 months! To avoid being a part of this statistic, follow the tips above and be smart about all your data transactions and whom you share your information with.
Want to know what types of data has been compromised by some of the most well known companies today? Read the overview here.