Tips on Keeping Sensitive Data Safe in 2018
Ensuring your data is kept safe is one of the most important business practices you will implement. This applies to you whether you’re an individual or business as anyone who has access to the internet can be at risk as there are cyber threats that occur on a daily basis. There are so many ways that you can keep your information safe from hackers, and many require that you take the appropriate security measures. This is especially true if you’ve joined the millions of people who have opted to store their data online in places such as the cloud for the sake of ease and convenience. On that note, you’re going to find a few tips below regarding how you can keep sensitive data safe in 2018.
photo/ Pete Linforth via pixabay
Change Your Passwords Regularly
When attempting to keep your sensitive data safe, one of the first and most logical steps to take is changing your passwords as regularly as you can. Some reasons that you should be changing your passwords regularly include to limit multiple account breaches, prevent constant access, prevent saved password abuse, and limit the chances of anyone other than you being able to guess your password. In case you’re not sure how to choose a good password, it should ideally be something that is relatively difficult to guess. Try and avoid using personal information such as dates, addresses, and names, and you should try and avoid simple phrases as well. Instead, try and create random passwords that combine a number of letters, symbols, and numbers.
Make Use of Your Firewall
In case you didn’t know, the firewall is part of a network that essentially helps to block any unauthorized access while permitting any outward communication. You may have noticed that when visiting certain sites, that you’re asked to disable your firewall or grant that particular site permission so that you can access it. This in sum helps protect you from malicious malware or any viruses that could infiltrate your device and hack your data. For this reason, it’s important that you try to keep this on as regularly as possible. In the case that you happen to have a VoIP telephone, your SIP ALG, or application layer gateway, is a mechanism that can help secure sessions between public and local networks, improving the security of your business and the data you use or collect.
Limit Access
Another way to protect your sensitive data in 2018 is by limiting access to it. If you run a business especially, the fewer people that have access to your data the better. You can do this by ensuring that only the people who need access to that specific information are able to access it. You should also think about changing the passwords once they no longer need access to the database. Also, at times, it’s better when you advise against personal devices being used while accessing personal data so that it’s easy to trace who had access in case of a security breach.
Focus on Employee Education
Following on from the former point, if you want to protect key data, employee education is key. They need to know the importance of following the protocol and what the implication of not doing so are. Some things you could tell them, for instance, include not sharing PHI or PII and ensuring they use a privacy filter screen if they happen to be on an airplane. The most ideal thing may be to require all employees to attend a training regarding the security measures to take and making data protection a part of company culture.
Only Store What You Need
One of the most crucial pieces of advice you can receive when it comes to keeping sensitive data safe is only storing what you need. It can be tempting to store everything online, however, this isn’t always the smartest move. No matter how many security measures you take, nothing is guaranteed, so it’s best to keep extremely sensitive data offline where possible. By doing so, you ensure that you reduce the risk of sensitive data being exposed.
Keeping your data safe cannot be expressed enough in this day and age. Security breaches happen every day and cybercriminals are continuously looking for ways that they can hack into people’s systems and acquire sensitive data. For this reason, you should try your best to follow some of the rules mentioned above. Doing so should mitigate the chances of your sensitive data beings hared or exposed altogether.
Author: Carol Trehearn
photo/ Gerd Altmann via pixabay
