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Data Security

Loss or corruption of business data is probably one of the biggest threats small businesses face. Yet many fail to take even simple measures to protect their data from inadvertent or malicious damage.

Understand the Threat

There are a number of potential threats to your business data — whatever the scale of your operations.

• Mistakes — people can accidentally delete data or records.
• Malware — without adequate protection, your data is at risk from viruses and malicious software.
• Theft — you may lose data if a computer is stolen or people take data without your permission.
• Deception — e-mail scammers may try and obtain passwords and log-in details in an attempt to steal money from your business account.
• ID Theft — thieves may steal data and try and obtain services in the name of your business.
  

Know What you Need to Protect

The scale of IT security you need depends on the type of business you run.  It is important to understand what data you have, and what needs to be protected.  For most businesses, the key documents and data are likely to be:

• Salary details
• Customer lists
• Bank details and on-line banking log-ons
• Passwords
• Intellectual property (i.e. designs/plans)

Develop an IT Security Policy

This doesn’t have to be complicated.  It’s just a case of putting a simple policy in place to ensure anyone who handles your data is aware of their responsibilities and understands the correct procedures for accessing and using data.
The very act of putting a policy together will help highlight areas of your business that may be at risk — and will make it less likely your employees will inadvertently get you into hot water.

Manage Access to your Data

You can introduce simple controls that restrict who in the business has access to your data and what they can do with it.  This usually involves giving people a user ID and password they must enter before they are allowed to access a computer or use and update files.  You can use passwords to give people the ability to see but not alter files, or to have full access to see, use and update data.

Keep Virus Protection Up-to-date

There are a number of effective and relatively inexpensive software packages on the market which can protect you from viruses and malicious software.  Make sure you subscribe to one — and don’t forget to renew it when it runs out.

Back it Up

This is probably the single most important computer related task you could ever do — and in the event of a disaster, it could save your business from going bust.  There is a whole range of disks and drives which you can simply plug into the computer to do the job for you.  Make sure you back up everything you couldn’t live without — and store your backed up data away from the original PC.  

Businesses in the East of England can access a free Business IT Guide on data security and a range of other IT topics.
Go to:  http://www.businessitguide.com/guides/view-guide/19/