Is your data secure? If you can’t answer this question with a resounding, yes, keep reading.
Today, you can hardly turn on the news without hearing about another security breach resulting in stolen personal information and financial losses. The average breach costs over $7 million in addition to incalculable damage to consumer trust, brand image, as well as significant personal losses for victims. The importance for business executives to secure company data is only becoming more urgent as hackers grow in numbers and become bolder in their tactics.
Therefore, business leaders and IT managers must do everything in their power to prevent such security breaches. Failure to do so can result in huge losses for both company leaders and their customers, spelling disasters of huge proportions.
As businesses grow and the nature of data management changes, many executives are left wondering if their customers’ data is secure. As you begin to examine your security procedures and protocols, consider the following tips to ensure your data is safe:
- Check your records and simplify. Inspect your files and understand what data your business is collecting and saving, then make sure it is compliant with laws in your state. You might be surprised to find your system inherently stores much more than you would ever need now or in the future. Pare down any extra fields for future collection and safely delete the parts of old files you no longer need. This will not only prevent hackers from getting anything “extra” in the event of a breach but also helps clean out your system and save on data storage costs.
- Maintain on-site and online security. Do you have firewalls, restricted access, and locks set up to protect your data both online and in-house? Many company leaders leave data unprotected, giving hackers inside and outside their organizations great opportunities to prey on their weaknesses. It is of utmost importance to implement security features both virtually and physically to make it more difficult — if not impossible — for hackers to access your data. Depending on your system, this can entail firewalls, security clearances, locked rooms, and restricted access on an employee-by-employee basis.
- Train and manage employees. Finding and training staff in proper data management practices is an important step in keeping data safe. Provide training opportunities to ensure all employees understand the importance of and necessary care for proper data management. Set up your systems so employees can only access the information necessary to complete their jobs and put systems in place to alert managers of improper or suspicious activities.
- Dispose records properly. In the event your business no longer needs a virtual or paper record, proper record disposal is critical. Don’t leave customer data unprotected just because you no longer need it for business purposes. Keep disposal protocols and procedures on hand when disposing of records to prevent these types of breaches.
- Plan for an attack. While it may be a worst-case scenario, it’s crucial to have alerts set up for suspicious activities and protections in place for attacks. Business leaders must have backups and planned procedures prepared in advance as everyone is at risk in the event of a breach.
Adopting the Oracle Cloud is one of the best ways business leaders can prevent security breaches. The Oracle Cloud is designed to protect your data through multipoint protections and security features: Oracle Identity and Access Management tools offer highly technical identity requirements and access management that allows managers and business owners to offer access only to those with permission. In addition, Oracle Security Monitoring and Analytics allow for built-in Oracle security monitoring, constantly scanning all cloud activity to identify security threats and alert you in advance of a full-blown attack. Oracle Database Security features offer yet another layer of security, including “transparent data encryption, encryption key management, privileged user and multifactor access control, data classification and discovery, database activity monitoring and blocking, consolidated auditing and reporting, and data masking,” to keep your data safe.
So, is your data secure? It can be with Oracle Cloud.
If fears about your company’s data security — and whether it’s enough to prevent a disastrous security breach — keep you up at night, contact the Oracle Cloud experts at Arisant. We’ll help you understand what the strength of Oracle Cloud security could mean for your business and give you the security tools necessary to help you sleep soundly at night knowing your customers’ information is safe. As your Cloud managed services provider (MSP), we’ll work with you to configure your business data management in a cost-effective, safe, and secure way. To learn more about Oracle security solutions, contact the Arisant experts online, at 303-330-4065, or by email at sales@arisant.com.