Best Practices to Ensure Your Enterprise Data is Safe

March 14, 2014

In today’s economy, enterprises heavily depend on the internet for their daily operations. Despite the fact that conducting business online has proven to be quite convenient, the continually evolving security threat cannot be ignored. McAfee recently reported that several midsize and small businesses are currently operating under a false sense of security when it comes […]

In today’s economy, enterprises heavily depend on the internet for their daily operations. Despite the fact that conducting business online has proven to be quite convenient, the continually evolving security threat cannot be ignored. McAfee recently reported that several midsize and small businesses are currently operating under a false sense of security when it comes to secure file sharing, mobile devices and enterprise data.

Ensuring secure and reliable data communications is becoming difficult for any size enterprise. Hackers are constantly trying to illegally get their hands on sensitive data like intellectual property, financial records, personal information or any other valuable data they can get their greedy hands on. Every system admin is tasked with making sure that they protect their precious enterprise data from digital thieves.

“A business that does not have any security measures in place is putting their data and customers’ trust in jeopardy”

Bill Rielly: McAfee Vice President

Below are some useful tips you can implement to improve the security of your enterprise cloud data;

Conduct a Security Audit

A security audit will help you identify the parts of your enterprise that are vulnerable and need protection. You should employ a professional auditor to audit your whole IT infrastructure including mobile devices, networks, and computers. This should be the first course of action because it helps you map out a security plan for your business.

Encrypt Your Data

Data encryption is a fundamental security measure. Currently, the most popular technology used to secure extranets, intranets, websites, and most server based applications is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. Without SSL encryption, the integrity of data transferred over private and public networks can easily be compromised. For maximum enterprise data protection, SSL should be deployed on all servers.

Educate Employees on the Importance of Security

The data security of an organization is only as strong as its weakest link and the weakest links are the humans in the organization. This means that the staff should be the frontline defense when it comes to securing enterprise data. Social engineering is an easy way to breach the security of an enterprise. Social engineering can be effectively combated by clearly explaining the importance of data security to every employee.

Create Security Policies

Security policies are simple and clear principles that are put in place to ensure secure practices in the work environment. Once you have educated your staff on the importance of security it will be easier to enforce security policies. Policies help guarantee that the employees are doing their part to secure company data.

Make sure Multiple Strong Passwords are being Used

Weak passwords pose a great security threat. With the use of free downloadable software, 6-character passwords can easily be cracked in 30 minutes or less; and 8-character passwords can be cracked in around six hours. There should be rules and guidelines employees can use to create strong passwords. Passwords should also be periodically changed. Make sure all passwords disable after at least five failed attempts. Lastly, run password crackers internally to test current passwords and root out the weak ones.

Protect The Mobile Work Force

The introduction of cloud computing in business has completely revolutionized the enterprise work scene. Employees now prefer to use their own personal mobile devices to access work documents. Your employees are now working away from the protection of your network security by using open public networks in their homes or other public areas. Putting measures in place to protect the data they are accessing is of grave importance.

An organization should also make sure it sets up Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies to protect the mobile work force within the work place.

Use Authentication Technologies

Using mature authentication technologies will help you establish the Identity of anonymous web-based individuals. It can also enable your organization to conduct online applications by generating e-signatures thus leading to more paperless transactions for your enterprise.

Back Up

Make sure that company data is securely backed up and can be easily recovered in a moment’s notice.

Conclusion

The internet provides enterprises with an opportunity to integrate their community of customers, business partners, and employees, extend their reach, and reduce their operational costs. However, data security is still a looming threat; implementing simple yet practical solutions to ensure that enterprise data is secure will allow your organization to fully utilize the internet.

 

Author: Gabriel Lando

 

By Team FileCloud