Since September is National Disaster Preparedness Month and October is National Cybersecurity Month, I thought it would be a good time to evaluate if you have the necessary security in place to protect your business. Let’s face it – no one thinks bad things can happen to them, but do you want to take that risk? Here are five things to consider:
- Review Your Insurance, Carefully. Most companies have liability insurance that would pay if their building and contents within were damaged. However, do you have enough coverage to replace all the computer equipment, devices, desks, art, supplies, etc that have accumulated over the years? Make sure you review your policy every year and ensure the new additions and assets you’ve accrued throughout the year are covered.
- Consider the Cloud. An advantage of cloud computing is your data is stored offsite in a secure data center. So if your building was destroyed or if your server croaks due to an unexpected hardware failure, everything you’ve worked hard to create over the years wasn’t impaired in the disaster but is safe and sound.
Is Your Data Secure? A never-ending battle is to make sure your data is protected from theft. Companies that get hacked and have sensitive client and employee data exposed can face severe penalties, lawsuits, and massive loss of credibility. Review your security measures so you never have to send an email to your customers explaining that a hacker accessed their information through you. Also, if you store sensitive information (even passwords to portals containing sensitive information) on laptops, phones, or other devices, ensure you have a way to control and safeguard that information. - Write a Simple Disaster Recovery Plan. The keyword is ‘simple.’ If the plan is too complicated or difficult, you won’t do it. Think of the disaster that is most likely to happen and how you would recover.
- Review Your Internet Policy. With everyone’s nosed buried in social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), it is important that your employees know where the line is in what they can and cannot post online. It is also suggested to have a form of content-filtering software to block websites and content you don’t want employees visiting during work hours.
- Don’t take the risk!
We offer a FREE security health check that can answer your questions, for example:
- Are my IT systems truly secure from hackers, viruses, and rogue employees?
- Are my backups configured properly to ensure I can be back up and running again fast in a disaster?
- Are my systems optimized for maximum speed and performance?
