Your data is at a big risk, for a lot of reasons.
Whether it is your employees or your company's data management processes, there are a lot of ways in which the security of your data may be compromised. It is important to understand these chinks in your company's armor so that you can easily protect your data and your clients' important and private information. Companies that fail to understand the importance of data security, which can often end up bearing huge losses and legal suites.
Here are ways in which some of the ways in which your data can be vulnerable:
Opening Documents from Third Party Applications
Third party applications may often not be safe for your computers. A lot of time, they may install spyware or other harmful viruses on your computer, which compromises the security of your data. Opening third party applications on your company's hardware also requires you to share your data with these applications. Some programs may imitate trusted applications and put your company's confidential data at risk. Even social networking websites could be imitated and sharing your personal data with them could put your company's data at risk too.
Ignoring Hardware Failures
One of the leading causes of both data loss and security issues, hardware failures need to be recognized and nipped in the bud. If your anti virus software or network monitoring systems suggest that your system/network has a vulnerability, you should fix it immediately instead of ignoring it.
Faulty Supply Chain Processes for IT Infrastructure
Your anti-virus or network security technologies can successfully keep viruses – and other web-based threats -- at bay. However, your computer is the weakest when it's being assembled. Even the most reputed of computer companies source cheaper parts from Asian countries. These computer parts may occasionally have something risky hidden inside them and it is not always easy to find these risks at the outset. Train your employees to find out the various risks associated with your Internet services, software and hardware. Evaluate the potential risks and find out possible ramifications. Select vendors and contractors only after your evaluation has been thorough.
Increased Employee Mobility
If you have a lot of attrition in your company, you should beware that your employees may be taking valuable company data with them. It is not always possible to stop them from doing so. Important sales and marketing information, data of your customers, distribution lists and other such data are compromised every time an employee privy to them leaves the company and joins a rival. If your employees have the habit of storing sensitive information on their phones, tablets, laptops and computers, your data is all the more vulnerable.
Lax Enforcement of Data Security Policies
Companies develop a lot of data security policies in an attempt to protect their data. However, they may not always follow up on their policies and plans. This puts their data at a very high risk and leads to a lot of loss in both data and revenue.
Failure to Back-up Data
Your data can be at a major risk if you fail to back it up regularly. The slightest technical fault or malfunctioning in your hardware system can lead to a massive data loss. There have been a lot of incidences in which companies have lost a lot of valuable data simply because they failed to take timely backup of all their data.
Data breaches can be really detrimental for companies, so it becomes all the more important to ensure that you have the right checks in place. Taking the security of your data lightly can make you pay heavily at a later stage. So make sure your data is always protected.