Since May 25th, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been in force. If a data breach happens and you have not implemented sufficient security measures, you may be subject to a punishment of up to $20 million, or 4% of your annual revenue. In most cases, your business should now be GDPR compliant. However, personal data protection can and should constantly be enhanced. In a world where consumer data is handled at an increasing rate, the significance of data security increases proportionately. Any organization or business should constantly strive to avoid data leaks. In this post, we’ll cover a few methods to further enhance your data security.
Encryption and cyber-attacks on data
One of the most critical measures you can take is to encrypt all of your data. By doing so, hackers and other third parties will be unable to utilize it if they get it. No one should have access to the content. By encrypting all of your data and ensuring that it is sent exclusively through secure Wi-Fi networks, intranets, and the internet (think HTTPS), you may substantially decrease the likelihood of a data leak.
Maintain strict adherence to your privacy policy
Often, many businesses’ cybersecurity is managed very effectively in-house. When data breaches occur, it is often due to human mistakes. That is why it is critical that every business rigorously enforces its privacy policies, educates its workers about them, and emphasizes their significance. In 2018, you cannot afford for an employee to click on URLs included in questionable e-mails or to use the password “password.” Always guarantee that your employees understand the critical nature of cybersecurity and behave appropriately. Consider the following issues:
- Employees who leave their laptop or computer alone and without locking the screen or securing it with a password;
- No usage of strong passwords with a minimum of 12 characters;
- Employees who are negligent with personal data (think the loss of USB sticks or the theft of computers);
- Too many individuals have access to personal data;
- Personal data that is transferred in an unencrypted fashion (through e-mail, but also via services such as Dropbox).
To avoid such security concerns, you might, for example, arrange seminars or courses to ensure that all workers are aware of the dangers and avoid making any needless errors.
Secure your workers’ internet access while they are not in the office
Another danger to consider is that someone may get unauthorized access to critical data while your workers are away from the office. Typically, this is due to insufficient security on public Wi-Fi networks. Frequently, an employee will check his/her business e-mail while using public Wi-Fi, resulting in the data being collected. As a business, you have limited options. After all, you can only secure your own Wi-Fi network.
That is why, as a recommended practice, you should require your workers to utilize a Virtual Private Network. A VPN encrypts all user data and transmits it via a secure, encrypted channel. Before the data enters the Wi-Fi network, it will have been encrypted. As a result, it becomes almost impossible for a hacker to access data sent out by your employee, even if the Wi-Fi network is not secure. If your business needs an efficient VPN that ensures the security of your data and is simple to use, look no further than NordVPN.
Effective cybersecurity is a must-have in today’s digital age, even more so if your business handles sensitive data. These guidelines may serve as a strong basis for safeguarding your business from data intrusions.