When Is Your Business Data At Risk?

Any business owner keen on keeping their company safe will need to think about the data from time to time. If you want to keep the business secure, one of the major things you need to project is the data. But a lot of entrepreneurs have real trouble trying to work out how to actually protect their data, and all too often the measures they take are far below par. A big part of the problem is not knowing when your business data might be at risk. With that in mind, let’s take a look now at the occasions when your business data is most likely to be at risk – whether from an outside attack, an accidental force, or an internal problem.

During An Emergency

If your business suffers any kind of emergency which can affect the systems, it will mean that your data is potentially at risk. A good example is fire; although rare, from time to time fire does break out in businesses around the world. When this happens, your main concern is obviously going to be the safety of the people, including yourself. But you will also probably spare a thought for your data, which is unlikely to survive very well. Nonetheless, this will not be a problem if you have backed up your data beforehand – something which is easy to do and only takes a minute. It is best to back up with a variety of physical and digital copies so that you always know that your data is copied and safe at least in some way somewhere.

When Transfering Files

There will be many occasions when you need to transfer files across to someone else – be they someone in your own office, in another location, or whatever. During the transfer process, it is possible that your data is at risk of being stolen or altered in some way, especially if it is being sent over the Internet even briefly. It is important therefore to encrypt your data first, even if it is not particularly sensitive material – but you should also provide yourself with further protection by using a managed file transfer system such as the one found at ipswitch.com/moveit. This will ensure that your data is as safe as possible during any transfer window – one of the most vulnerable times of all.

Under Unique Eyes

There are also a lot of time for any business when you need to get help from outside, and that can be a particularly difficult time for trying to keep your data safe. In one sense, you can’t do very much here to keep your data that safe. But what you can do is to at least have them sign a non-disclosure agreement detailing that they will not pass on any information they come across while working for you. It’s actually not a bad idea to have everyone who works for you at all to sign this, as that is the safest option by far. You can also ensure that employees – especially temporary ones – only have access to the data they actually need.