A Complete Guide to Data Security
December 20th, 2021 by admin
The data that your company has is perhaps its most valuable asset. Customer data, financial records, business plans, and any other crucial data are all crucial for your business and must be protected from criminals. However, this is easier said than done. Despite increased data protection regulations in place, the risk of a data breach is growing massively.
Research shows that 80 percent of data breaches involve personally identifiable information costing $150 per record. Last year, the average total cost of a data breach was nearly $3.92 million, where malicious attacks caused 52 percent of the breaches, and healthcare had the highest industry cost-all this points towards the dire need for businesses across industries to invest in data security services.
Data Security–What is It?
Data security is the practice of protecting digital information from unauthorized users. It protects data from unauthorized access and theft throughout its entire lifecycle. Data security is primarily a concept encompassing every aspect of information security, such as the physical security of storage and hardware devices to access and administrative controls.
If properly implemented, data security strategies can easily protect the confidential data of the organization against cyber criminals while guarding against insider threats and human error. Put simply, the role of data security is to ensure the safe and secure use of private data while lowering the risk of being stolen or misused.
What Data Needs Protection?
As a business, you must focus on protecting two major data types:
Mission-Critical Data
This data comprises of the data needed to sustain and operate your company, such as:
- Financial Plans
- Inventory
- Intellectual property (trade secrets and designs)
Private Information
This includes information of customers and employees such as:
- Employee payroll data
- Customer profiles
- Contracts with suppliers and partners
- Personal medical histories
Benefits of Focusing on Data Security
Here are the top benefits of focusing on data security:
Prevent Data Breach
A data breach is a security event where unauthorized people access critical data. It can happen due to:
- Cyber attacks where hackers bypass security technologies and break into your security platform
- Loss of devices or thefts containing protected information
- Human error and accidentally sending confidential data to someone unauthorized
Access to crucial business data by cybercriminals or unauthorized users can impact your business negatively. It can interrupt your business operations and sabotage your business reputation as well. Nobody would want to work with a company that can't keep private information protected. Hence, your company may suffer from lasting damage to its reputation and customer trust.
However, if you work with a trusted data security service partner, you no longer have to worry about data breaches as they will proactively monitor your network–keeping risk at bay. In other words, with a data security service partner, you can lower the risk significantly.
Ensure Compliance
Data security is also driven by compliance requirements. Data privacy regulations like California Consumer Privacy Act and General Data Protection Regulation strictly regulate how businesses gather, store, and use personally identifiable information.
Failure to comply with these regulations can be expensive. Plus, you can also get warnings and reprimands, while in extreme cases, your organization may also be banned from processing personal data. Therefore, the best way to prevent this is to work with a data security service company that can help your business conform to the legal regulations while protecting sensitive data.
Get Access to Cyber Security Talent
According to the research paper by ISC, there is a huge shortage of qualified cyber security workers. The industry requires nearly three million more qualified cyber security professionals. The current shortage indeed limits the ability to lower risk, identify threats and respond to attacks.
However, if you lack a qualified in-house team of cyber security professionals, don't worry. Simply outsource data security services from a trusted and reputed company like IPro.
At IPro, we have a team of highly-skilled, well-trained, and experienced data security specialists. We can provide you with the best data security and disaster recovery services. To ensure your business data is well-protected, we offer a Fortinet network security structure.
It protects against constant threats. We also offer proactive network monitoring and support along with consistent backups and a disaster recovery plan. For more information contact us today.
Posted in: Cybersecurity