Learn about four ways to protect your sensitive data at work.
Hackers, viruses, and other internet hazards pose a very serious threat to businesses and their data. If your company has procedures and protocols in place for preventing data breaches, you should definitely be following them. But the sad truth is that many companies don’t have, or don’t adequately educate about and enforce, policies surrounding internet security. Even if you’re not in a position to improve or implement the current policies, there are steps you can take to keep your data secure and help keep your business a little safer.
Email Security
One of the biggest security threats for most businesses comes from email. Many studies have shown that at least a portion of employees admit to opening attachments from people they don’t know. When you send files or documents, use secure methods like SFTP or a managed file transfer solution, rather than sending them by email. Sensitive information like username and password combinations or social security numbers should never be sent through email. Finally, don’t open suspicious files or links. If you receive an email with an odd or unexpected attachment, reach out to the sender in a separate email chain to verify that it is legitimate.
Strengthen Passwords
You should be changing your password every 60 to 180 days, and the new password should be markedly different than the one it’s replacing. Most people create a “new” password by adding a number or punctuation or by changing out the capital letters. Don’t do this. You should also have a unique password for each website; otherwise, you’re opening all of your accounts to the person who gets your password for just one.
Install Updates
One of the major reasons for updating operating systems is security. Microsoft pushes out updates at least once a month, and Apple does fairly frequently as well. When you get a notification that there’s a new update or patch available you should install it or ask IT to do it for you.
Lock Your Computer
Whenever you leave your computer, you should lock it. This won’t protect you from a breach via the internet, but it will protect you and your data from someone physically snooping. While you may totally trust all the people around you, wandering ‘guests’ in the building or rogue employees won’t be able to access sensitive data from your workstation if it’s locked. You can ever set up your computer’s settings to automatically lock when you’ve been idle for more than a few minutes.
About Micro Records
Due to our companies outstanding 2017 sales, Digitech Systems has selected Micro Records Company as A 2018 Gold Star Partner! Micro Records can help your business transition to a paperless way of life with quality e-forms and technology. For more information about how we can help your business utilize proactive monitoring, transition to doing things digitally, get rid of sensitive documents securely or benefit from new technology solutions, visit us online or give us a call at (877) 410-SCAN. For more tips on transitioning your business to paperless technology and going green, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, and Flickr.