Originally Posted On: http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com/technology-software/information-security-management-everything-you-need-to-know/

Did you know that in the first six months of 2019, 4.1 billion records were exposed as a result of data breaches?

If you own a business, you may want to learn how you can protect your data. However, if you have limited IT knowledge, you might not know how you can stay one step ahead of the hackers.

Here are three information security management tips that’ll help you protect your data. Use these tips, and you’ll be able to turn your network into the digital equivalent of Fort Knox.

Let’s begin!

1. Educate Your Staff

In most cases, human error is the reason data theft takes place. Following this, you need to train your employees so that they understand a few best practices in regards to data security.

To begin with, you should teach your employees how they can create ‘strong’ passwords.

For the most part, a strong password is over eight characters and contains a random collection of symbols, letters, and numbers.

You should also tell employees that they shouldn’t use ‘unsecured WiFi networks.’

An unsecured WiFi network is typically a network that someone can use, without having to provide a password. Connecting to such networks is risky, as it’s easy for hackers to ‘capture’ the data that’s transmitted across an unsecured network.

2. Work With Professionals

You might want to consider the option of hiring a company that offers IT consulting services.

In doing so, you’ll have access to experts that’ll be able to provide data security tips tailored to your existing IT setup.

You might also want to consider the option of hiring ‘white hat hackers.’

These individuals will be able to find and then fix potential holes in your network. If you like the idea of using white hat hackers, you can do so with the help of websites like Hackerone and Bugcrowd.

3. Use Backups to Defeat Ransomware

Ransomware is a computer virus that stops you from accessing your data. The hackers will only remove this program if you provide a ‘ransom.’

If you don’t want to pay this ransom, the only solution is to delete everything that’s on your network.

Now, on the one hand, this is a relatively lousy solution. However, if you conduct regular backups, deleting everything isn’t that much of a big deal.

That’s because the backups will have all your data, and so you can delete everything and use the backups to get things back to normal.

Following this, you should schedule regular backups of your IT system. In doing so, you can fight back, should a hacker every infect your network with ransomware.

Information Security Management – Is Your Data Safe?

Information security management isn’t something a lot of business owners like to learn about. But if you want to keep your data safe and away from prying eyes, it’s a topic that you can’t avoid.

If you want your network to be really secure, you should think about conducting a yearly audit. During this audit, you can perform several tests to verify the security of your network.

It definitely takes a lot of work to create a secure network that can withstand an attack. But it’s worth going through this effort when you consider the risks associated with a data breach.

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