The average total cost per data breach currently stands at $8.19 million. Considering that there were 4.1 billion compromised records in the year 2019, the cost of data breaches is posing a major cost concern for most businesses. High-profile data breaches are a constant reminder that data security should be a top priority for any enterprise.
The aftermath of data breaches extends beyond the cost concerns. You stand to suffer decreased customer loyalty, distrust, and a negative reputation. Whether yours is a new business or an established enterprise, a cyber security breach can bring your venture to its knees in a blink of an eye.
Are you wondering how to prevent a cyber-security breach within your business? Here are six security experts tips that should help you stay safe.
- Focus on Security Awareness Training
Your weakest link when dealing with data security is your employees. These are the only individuals with unlimited access to most of your delicate data. Your employees might expose you to unending vulnerabilities without the right training related to data security.
If you’re serious about avoiding data breaches, constant training should be at the core of your security measures. One training session is not enough to keep your employees on the loop about the data security risks that underlie. You should be eager to schedule regular training sessions that keep your employees on the loop about the changing trends in data breaches.
Before working around other aspects of systems security, ensure that all your staff understands the dynamics around data security. This gives you the confidence that the gatekeepers are up to date with every aspect of the security system.
- Update Software Regularly
Most of the OS systems allow for regular and comprehensive updates of their software systems. Regular updates ensure that your operating system is up to date with all the necessary security features. Your network is under the greatest threat when you fail to consider recurrent patch-ups.
A cyber security breach can occur due to your apparent failure to consider constant upgrades. You should pay attention to the constant notifications for updates from your OS to help keep your systems safe. Whether you are using macOS or any other operating system, undertaking updates should be at the core of your security management process.
- Ensure Regular Audits
Part of the reason why most systems surfer breaches are due to the failure to institute regular audits. You need to ensure scheduled audits of your security posture to limit the risk of threat. Security posture provides a comprehensive assessment of your system.
You can’t deal with what’s unseen. As such, you need to undertake such regular audits to ensure that you understand your blind spots. These evaluations should include vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. You can call in experts to assess how your organization handles information security.
You should consider penetration testing from a team of professional testers to ensure the best outcomes. With PCI penetration testing service, your regular audits are bound to be a success.
An audit exposes your information security policies and their usefulness. You also get to understand the network security mechanisms that should be part of the system. Such auditing logs assess your approach to data backups and other log-in monitoring procedures.
- Limit Access to Valuable Data
Who deals with delicate information such as customer financial details in your organization? Access is often the number one cause of a cyber security breach. If you don’t have a set-out protocol on who should access certain valuable information, you are at risk.
It would help to narrow down your list of most trusted staff. These employees should have the express authority to handle all the information marked delicate. You should also consider partitioning off such valuable data to ensure that every employee within the company understands their privileges when it comes to data access.
Minimizing the extent of access to delicate data gives you an edge in your quest to minimize cyber security breaches.
- Passwords Are a Deal-Breaker
Passwords can be a major concern when dealing with cyber security. This is all that stands between your systems and cyber criminals accessing your information. The United States lost more than $3.5 billion to internet-enabled crimes in the year 2019.
The bad news is that these losses are bound to grow as hackers find new ways to compromise your data. However, the good news is that a cyber security breach is avoidable with better password management procedures.
You only need to ensure that you have complex and hard to crack passwords for your systems. Password updates should also occur as often to limit the possibility of breaches. All your passwords should be difficult to decipher to ensure your data privacy.
- Have a Cyber Breach Response Plan
Every business hopes to have a smooth sailing when it comes to data security management. However, very few organizations prepare for the worst-case scenarios in case of a cyber security breach. Your best bet should be to have a contingency plan to deal with data breaches when they occur.
Developing a comprehensive breach preparedness strategy ensures that both you and your employees know what to do in case of data breaches. However, as an employer, you also need to be transparent about the extent of data breaches when they occur. A good response plan should include designated decision-makers in case of a data breach.
Reputation is one of the major factors at stake in case of a cyber security breach. As such, your data response plan should involve a communication plan to ensure you restore public trust after such instances of breaches.
A Cyber Security Breach in Your Company Is Avoidable
The age of technology presents numerous security challenges for modern businesses. A cyber security breach leads to both financial and non-financial implications for your enterprise. Are you wondering how to keep your systems safe from constant hacking concerns?
You need to consider these six tips as important in ensuring the safety of your security system. Regular audits are at the heart of your system’s security management. With the right team of penetration testers, you no longer have to worry about system safety and regular audits.
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