Whether you own a small, medium or large business venture, security is a significant watchword for commercial success. This applies to both intellectual and physical property, which underpins your business model and drives profitability. If you consider that the threat of cybercrime alone was thought to have cost the average small business £4,000 per year in 2014, for example, the need for business-owners to invest in advanced security solutions has never been more pressing.
So, here are five viable and advanced security options that can help you to protect every aspect of your business in 2016 and beyond:
Table of Contents
1. Understand your data and its requirements
While it may be tempting to believe otherwise, not all data is created equal. More specifically, it is important to understand the difference between standard information and business-critical or sensitive data before creating handling and storage procedures that are compliant. This may require a full audit of your data, but at the end of this process you can ensure that your most sensitive information is fully encrypted and securely stored.
2. Appreciate the value of encryption
While encryption is a foreign and occasionally controversial topic for business-owners, it is crucial if you are to manage and store data within a safe environment. Not only this, but encryption technologies are becoming increasingly accessible and easier to understand for independent entrepreneurs, making it easier to protect and manage data over a prolonged period of time. From Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to 128-bit encryption software, the decision to encrypt your virtual business will protect your venture and sensitive consumer data.
3. Manage your Passwords easily and efficiently
While encryption technologies can be complex and often unheralded, the management of passwords remains the tangible cornerstone of business security. Simply setting individual user passwords is not enough in the modern age, however, as these must be carefully managed within a wider business network. Resources such as LastPass enable you to achieve this, by allowing users to set business-wide passwords that meet set company criteria and applying customised policies to restrict access across specific devices or accounts.
4. Focus on Protecting your Businesses Physical Assets
In the modern age, it is easy to become preoccupied with protecting your intellectual assets ahead of physical alternatives. This is an oversight, however, as business premises such as offices and storage units must also be secured at all time. This involves insuring your assets and content to their full value, while also physically securing premises with alarms and tailored fencing. Brands such as Paramount Steel Fence offer a host of fence designs, each of which can be applied to a number of alternative structures.
5. The culture of Education and Understanding
While all of these steps can help to theoretically protect your intellectual and physical assets, this means little if your employees do not understand the importance of security and become slack when handling sensitive data, locking-up premises or managing files. To avoid this, it is imperative that you create a culture of understanding and education within your business and this is best achieved by initiating tailored training programs that are in integrated into staff induction seminars.
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