Data security management is an ongoing chore. Plus, setting up a functional system in the first place may seem overwhelming. Although the size, scale, and industry of your organization will determine how complicated your security needs to be, the basics are simpler than you may think. Always begin with research and information. Proceed with caution, review, and constant vigilance.
Setting Up Your Data Security Management System
Your data security management system relies on good information. The more you know about the details of your own business and the unique threats you face, the better you can make your security. There are two great ways to begin analyzing your current situation, and they work even better together.
First, you can hire a security professional. They know how cyber criminals think, and they have advanced training and insights that will help you prepare for the unexpected. By bringing in an outside opinion, you avoid the risk of overlooking your own errors because you’re used to them as well. We can never see our own mistakes clearly, which is why peer review is such an effective technique across so many industries.
The second option involves analytic software. Commercially available to essentially anyone, these programs use your data and data from cyber security repositories to compare your unique variables with recognized cyber threat patterns. Your location, employee base, favored software programs, and industry all influence what type of threats you will most often encounter. Using analytics to predict these risks helps ensure nothing catches you off-guard. Analytics programming continues to be useful long after you first set up your system, and it’s a great tool for day to day data security management.
Digital Data Protection
The high volume of breaches and leaks in the past year revealed several alarming trends. Failure to secure data on the Cloud was one of the worst, and website weaknesses also caused concern. Developers are still working on finding the best ways to secure new products, and no solution is invincible, but users actually caused their own downfalls in many of these cases. It drives home an important point: the most important aspect of cyber security is vigilance. You can have the most expensive, advanced data security system in the world, but it means nothing if you don’t use it properly.
Remember that routines are no guarantee of security, and always take the time to triple-check any new assets, tools, or projects. If you recently integrated a new solution of any kind, extend deadlines for the first several weeks to ensure everyone has the time to check their own work. Use peer review techniques whenever possible to avoid preventable oversights as well. These small steps build to make a big difference.
Even the best data security management policies and procedures cannot prevent every incident. Caution pays off in the end, however. Make sure security is a priority, and budget time for it. That’s one of the best ways to avoid a major breach or leak.
