A lot of business owners underestimate the importance of business I.T. security. Sure, they know that that’s important. But they don’t know just how involved in the process they should be. And this can create some real problems! After all, modern businesses have way too much to lose if this security is compromised!
And you shouldn’t underestimate this danger. The costs of data loss should be worrying to any business owner working in any field. It’s true that the majority of such episodes aren’t actually the result of security breaches. (Most of the time, it’s hardware damage or the innocent errors of employees!) But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put a priority on I.T. security.
This is precisely what many business owners are neglecting to do. If you’re starting a business, you need to put a focus on your security measures. At these early stages, a mistake in security measures can have tremendous consequences. The mistake may seem small, at first. But the implications of a lapse in any area can be very damaging to your company.
What we’re going to do here is look at the key elements of this problem. If you’re dealing in computers and networks in your business (and chances are you are!)? Then you’ll definitely be coming across these things in the near future.
General network infrastructure security
First, you should take a “macro” look at your technological infrastructure. There are going to be clear indicators of your general infrastructure being inadequately managed. This can often take the form of a complete lack of Internet security, as well as physical security of the hardware. What kind of unique threats might your company face? How are you going to implement security solutions into the infrastructure? You may want to enlist the help of IT managed services if you want to ensure this is done right.
Protection against malware
What are the most common ways of getting malware onto your computer systems? Most of the time, it’s the download of files that are infected. The installation of harmful software is also pretty common. A lot of employees in modern businesses have a lot of freedom with what they can download and install to do their job. You shouldn’t take this freedom away. But you should make sure people are aware of the threats out there. You should also ensure that appropriate anti-malware software is available for every computer.
User privileges
Modern businesses deal a lot in virtualization and collaboration. They often use cloud services that allow people to edit documents simultaneously. They have certain folders on the work servers that are required for employees to do their job. But a lot of the information held in some of these files are going to be very sensitive. It could be that you can’t have anyone on the outside looking at them. It could be that you can only have a very limited number of employees looking at them. This is why you have to be very vigilant when it comes to user accounts and privileges.
Error and activity monitoring
A lot of these sorts of security problems are completely preventable. And I’m not just talking about taking the kind of measures I’ve mentioned above. What I’m referring to is your ability to monitor networks for suspicious activity. If you have the right monitoring solution, you’ll be able to recognize suspicious activity and investigate it before harm is done. You’ll also be able to tell when an error is taking place that might compromise the security measures I’ve already mentioned. This is something you may want to discuss with I.T. professionals.
Device security
You have to think about the security of the devices that your employees may bring to work with them. (As well as those they’re going to take home with them!) These include mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, these are becoming more and more popular in the workplace! This can definitely help with work speed and productivity. But each employee needs to follow your security measures when they use their own device. If you have a bring your own device policy, make sure you’re adequately protected. They need to be very careful about the networks they connect to using these devices, for example.
How you deal with incidents
So what is everyone supposed to do if a cyber-attack occurs? Do your employees know what they need to do if an I.T. disaster takes place? And, for that matter, do you know what to do? You should have a response and recovery plan. This will help with business continuity in the face of such a problem.
