One breach is all it takes to ruin a business. Look at the recent password hack episode that Linked In had to endure. These incidences, time and again, remind us that businesses depends on IT more than we care to imagine. After the recent exposure of thousands of passwords off LinkedIn, the leading professional social media network endured a slump in its brand image. Earlier, plenty of other instances literally threw businesses into the dump zone. We have lessons from all of this, here are some of them:
Don’t just build systems and networks, build fortresses
Every business with a few computers, laptops, and mobile devices will have a network. The presence of a network is not as important as setting up an IT network that’s build like a fortress.
There’s a reason why network security plays an important role in our network set-up plan because it’s the only part of the entire consulting process that actually “protects” the network. A business that isn’t safe cannot last long since customers now place a tremendous amount of trust – notwithstanding huge amount of sensitive data – with the companies that do business with them.
One mistake, and it’s over
According to gamenguide.com , over 6.5 million passwords were stolen and seeded into a forum called InsidePro. There are more such disastrous occurrences: over 1.5 million passwords were compromised from eHarmony – a dating site. Further, another set of passwords were breached off Last.fm – a British music site. It’s important for businesses – whether they have a database-driven site like LinkedIn or a mere web presence – online threats evolve over time.
As such, the security best practices also change with time. The trouble is that businesses don’t embrace these changes as easily and necessarily as they should. Let your guard down and security of your networks can be compromised. Sometimes, these breaches just kill business.
Why let the mistakes happen when it can all be avoided?
Data is everything
Businesses today take on more data than ever, and across multiple-channels. Cloud computing, user data within a company, customer data, financial details, and sales related information are just the beginning of all the data that seeps through into your network. We didn’t even start with social media, emails, and pre-sales talk that every business now relates to. If the data influx is huge, precious, and all-too critical, securing this data should be first priority for evert business.
Data backups, encryption, secure user sessions and many other best practices are not fancy choices; they are mandatory inputs every business must invest in.
We have been helping businesses set-up rock-solid IT networks for years. We consult businesses on network security best practices, data security and data management, and many other aspects related to Information technology. If you’d like us to help you devise and implement a progressive strategy that not only secures your network but also keeps it future-ready, do let us know.
We’d love to hear from you.
714-333-9620