Did you know there were 3,158 data compromises in the U.S. last year and that these events negatively impacted north of 1.3 billion people?
Customer information, financial documents, employee records, and intellectual property are all housed on computers. Unfortunately, all it takes is one mistake to create Armageddon-level issues. Cybercriminals are always on the prowl for systems and networks they can compromise. And, as the above statistics show, these bad actors are successful too often.
Financial loss, lawsuits, reputational damage, and customer dissatisfaction are among the possible consequences when data breaches are successful. The aftermath won’t be pretty if your customers, on the heels of a data breach that exposes their personal data, contact a data breach lawyer.
While there’s no way to eliminate risks 100%, here are four ways businesses can reduce the odds of becoming another statistic.
1. Secure Access Controls
When unauthorized users gain access to sensitive systems, the risks of data breaches climb.
Organizations can reduce the chance of this happening by maintaining stringent access control measures.
Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA): Requiring employees to authenticate with more than one factor, such as a password and a smartphone code, will provide an extra layer of protection. Going this route can thwart many attacks from cybercriminals and keep businesses safe.
Review access rights: Corporate roles change over time. Reviewing access rights from time to time will ensure access privileges are up-to-date.
2. Train and Educate Employees
Human error is another primary cause of data breaches. Phishing emails, weak passwords, and inattentive handling of sensitive information can all weaken protection. This is the reason why regular employee training cannot be avoided.
Failing to train workers is akin to increasing the risks of data breaches. Training can’t be a one-time affair, either. It needs to be ongoing so that employees stay on top of things.
Recurring workshops, simulated phishing, and strong security policies will allow employees to establish the good habits needed to protect sensitive information.
3. Encrypt and Back Up Data
Encryption is about securing your information so that even if hackers get their hands on it, they’re unable to read or exploit it without having decryption keys. Failing to use encryption is a mistake since the information will be easy to access if intercepted.
It’s also important to get in the habit of baking things up. Backups will enable your business to rebound if compromised by issues like data loss or ransomware attacks.
Together, backups and encryption will protect your business interests. It’ll be harder for unauthorized parties to exploit your data, and backups will ensure your company isn’t left high and dry if anything is lost, whether accidentally or because of bad actors.
4. Create an Incident Response Plan
While the right strategy can reduce risks, it’s unrealistic to believe your company can guarantee zero data breaches. That’s why an incident response plan (IRP) is vital. It will help identify what your company should do if a data breach occurs.
Some of the key components of an effective IRP are assigned roles and responsibilities, regular testing, response procedures, clear objectives, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident analysis.
An effective response can prevent loss, reduce downtime, and preserve customer confidence in a crisis.
Cyberattacks are not just a concern for large multinational businesses. They can negatively impact companies of all sizes. By putting into action the four points above, your business can greatly reduce the likelihood of sustaining a crippling data breach.
Prevention is costly, but suffering a data breach due to a cyberattack is even more expensive. The losses aren’t just financial, either. Losing customers and suffering reputational harm can be just as costly…and in some ways even more so.
