The digital world is becoming increasingly more sophisticated – not only in the way we are storing and transferring digital information, but also in the mechanisms that we use to protect it. Cyberattacks against secure data are a major threat for small and medium sized businesses, as is the risk to data security in the event of a natural disaster or other catastrophic event.
Smaller businesses often overestimate the security of their data, which is a primary reason why they’re often the perfect victim for hackers and other cyber criminals. Understandably, consumers have become staunchly protective of their personal data, which means they’re more likely to invest in businesses that take data security seriously.
If you’ve been considering your options for making your data more secure, here are 5 ways that a managed IT service is the solution you’re looking for.
Protection Against Unauthorized Access
Knowing who has access to your data and why is an important part of keeping your business secure. When a plan isn’t put into place to authorize access to specific employees only, it exponentially increases the risk of a data breach.
Unfortunately, many smaller businesses think that by limiting access to data they are telling their staff that they don’t trust them. While employees can pose an internal threat, limiting access drastically reduces the chances of data being handled carelessly or accidentally put at risk of exposure by employees with no malicious intent at all. IT services put a system in place that encrypts your data, structures it and provides password only access where appropriate.
Risk Assessment
Many businesses don’t have the capabilities to properly identify the most sensitive data and its risk level. Data that you might think is relatively common might actually work as a lead to help cyber criminals attack your more sensitive information. Likewise, a business can have vulnerable, exposed data and not even realize it.
A managed IT team is trained to specifically analyze your data, identify where your risks are and actively work to protect it against accidental exposure or an attack.
Ongoing Encryption
Encryption helps keep your data secure, but savvy tech criminals can easily take advantage of a business who hasn’t invested in an encryption service that continuously protects their information. An IT service should offer an encryption driver that operates 24 hours, day and night, to instantly encrypt new data that enters the system. This is important both as a protection against cyber crimes but also to protect your data in the event of a natural disaster.
Regular Updates
Software and system updates frequently come with enhanced security features to protect your data. These updates are important not only because they offer the top level of protection, but also because in some cases it only takes a hacker so long before they can break in and compromise your data if you’re using outdated tools. An IT support team ensure that your software and systems are up to date, and they handle the updating process for you.
Disaster Recovery
Accidents happen, whether internally or at a larger scale within your locality. When they do, your data is at risk. Managed IT services are professionals who respond immediately to disasters and work to immediately recover and secure your data. This fast response and professionalism mitigates the damage that can come from unforeseen circumstances.
Would you like to know more about how managed IT services can make your sensitive data more secure? We have the team of IT professionals that can help. Contact Proactive IT today and let’s talk about protecting the future of your business.