How IT Services Help Businesses Plan and Prevent a Data Breach

Using IT Services to Plan and Prevent Data Breaches

These days, companies handle loads of sensitive data. So, a data breach could have a devastating effect on a company's sustenance and growth trajectory. Recovering from such an IT security lapse can be costly for your enterprise. Fortunately, stepping up your IT services can help your business develop some preventative techniques.

Overview: Data Breaches and Other Information Security Threats

The simplest definition of a data breach is when an unauthorized program or party gets access to your company's confidential information. Such a definition broadens when you consider various parts of your IT architecture — fiber-optic network, business IT management platforms, hardware, and so on. 

Different industrial compliance regulators also have varying standards of IT security demands. So, it could range from data theft to denial of services (DoS) attacks. It's a blanket term covering the malicious intent of cyber actors that steal crucial client or employee data. This could be a hacker or even an employee that accesses a file without the right security clearance.

Other characteristics of a data breach include: 

• Failure of a level of IT security that leads to an intentional or unintentional information breach
• Destruction, fragmentation, or alteration of sensitive data
• Disclosure of privileged business-critical information
• When an authorized party even looks at privileged information

A data breach could have some devastating consequences— regardless of the industrial compliance measures or exact nature.  

The Treat Horizon Landscape of a Data Breach

The effects of data breaches are as diverse as their types. It could be as minor as an employee getting your client list to have a soft landing when they leave your company. Or, it could be as severe as a malicious external party encrypting your data with ransomware. 

However, all data breaches have one thing in common — they cost companies millions in lost revenue or lawsuits from shareholders or customers. And, this is compounded by the fact that detecting and recovering from such a security lapse is a slow, costly and tiring task.

Such IT infrastructure and cybersecurity lapses are costly for large enterprises. But, it could deal a death blow to small or mid-sized companies.

Data Breaches Are a Concern for Small and Big Businesses

When a data breach hits the headlines, it's since it affected a large company such as Microsoft, Yahoo, or General Electric. This is also because it leads to global panic, as is the case with the latest major Air India data breach. Here hackers gained access to the personal data of 4.5 million customers.

However, hackers are opportunists— so it may be wise to do what you can to protect your company’s data. This applies to whether you're running a small company or a multinational corporation. 

7 Ways IT Services Help Businesses Pre-empt a Data Breach

There isn't an absolute way to protect your systems from the threats posed by malware and other threats to information security. But, you could do a few things to prevent unauthorized access to personal data by elevating your information security. House of I.T's professional consulting services understands the intricacies of building and running a secure and scalable IT infrastructure.

We’re here to help you through the following steps in elevating your cybersecurity:

1.     Employee Education Initiatives

Data leaks happen even in companies that have all the proper cybersecurity contingencies in place. This is because human error accounts for a significant percentage of data breaches. So, IT department leaders need to teach employees how to prevent or detect such security threats.

Such initiatives could be as simple as teaching them how to create unhackable passwords. Or even how to identify a potential phishing scam. Testing, evaluation, and re-evaluation is an important part of such workshops.

You could hire an IT consultant to help you with such  IT services. That way, you get the most out of the process.

2.      Limit Access to Privileged Information

You can protect your company's confidential data by limiting who gets access within your organization. This doesn’t imply freezing out everyone. It’s merely taking contingencies to ensure employees who don’t need to access certain pieces of data or software don’t get access.

Such a step can improve productivity as employees focus on the tools and data needed to get their job done. Setting out such privileges lowers the risk of accidental and intentional data breaches.

3.     Data Encryption 

Encrypting your company data is one of the best bets against the threats posed by phishing scams and ransomware attacks. The good news is there are loads of file encryption software and policies you can adopt.

However, most companies focus on the data that sits on the physical hard drives of a computer. This only solves part of the problem. So, it's also essential to consider files that move from your organization to clients or other businesses via email or other means.

4.     Heightened Cloud Security 

Your cloud architecture is an exploitable point of weakness for any would-be cyber-attacker. This is because hackers can easily access cloud services from any part of the globe. Fortunately, you can limit this exposure by settling up a secure private fiber optics network. You can bolster such efforts by including this network in other company-wide IT services initiatives.

5.     A Solid BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Policy

A BYOD policy can help you cut down on hardware costs – especially when you have consultants and remote workers on your payroll. It's one of the trends shaping the future of digital business transformation across the globe. So, you might as well get comfortable with securing all those smartphones and other portable devices.

Your BYOD policy should clearly outline how data is stored and transmitted through all these portable devices.

6.     Unhackable Passwords

Everyone in your company can be encouraged to use complex passwords. This makes their login credentials harder for hackers and bots to guess. It also helps if such credentials are changed every 2-3 months. You can also take it a step higher by having multi-factor authentication or biometric scans if possible.

7.     Keeps Your Software and Systems Updated

Systems and software updates usually come with cybersecurity patches that address previous security vulnerabilities. This measure is probably the least costly cybersecurity protocol as most software updates occur automatically.

Engage An IT Consultant On Your IT Security Needs Today!

The steps mentioned above will get you part of the way through your journey to iron-clad IT security. But, there are more IT services that a consultant can provide to help you secure your IT infrastructure from all threats. This is especially true for business owners who are not that tech-savvy.

Hackers keep getting more malicious and smarter. Hiring an IT consultant helps you secure your business from data breaches. The consultancy firm can also come up with an actionable plan for responding to when such incidences occur. This could save you loads of money wasted on downtime and potential lawsuits.

House of I.T has the workforce, tools, and experience businesses need to build a secure IT infrastructure from the ground up. We’re there for you whether you need software, security, data recovery, cloud services, and much more.

House of I.T is up to the task of ensuring your IT security can stand up to the threats posed by the most malicious cyber-actors out there.