It is no secret that data breaches are bad, but understanding how bad they can get is the real show. It’s certainly very challenging to project the cost of data breaches since ‘data breach’ is quite a generic term that refers to different incidents across the IT spectrum.
Today the world of information technology is fast-moving with innovative ideas and technological developments. In such a world, it’s no surprise to have criminals exploiting loose ends. ALSCO is one company that is responsible for taking IT beyond data centers. The tech giant assists organizations in implementing the best security and scrutiny measures for better efficiency as well as output.
Over the years, ALSCO has helped many companies safeguard their important data assets by installing safe and sound security gateways in their systems. The company’s CEO, Mohammad Kifah, suggests that one can mitigate the damage by quickly containing the breach and initiating the recovery process. For that, the tech security company shares several tips to avoid a data breach.
Restrict Access
The more people with access to data, the more vulnerable your system is. If there are 2,000 people logging into a program that has tons of information stored, there are 2,000 vulnerabilities; any individual’s faulty link can harm the entire system. If only 10-15 people have access to that data, the vulnerabilities will be reduced by 99%.
However, there are myriad ways to limit data access. For example, you can avoid syncing high-risk data (like credit card numbers and SSNs) entirely and create different user profiles with varying levels of clearance for accessing the system.
Audit & Evaluation
There is no top-to-bottom data security strategy that will offer lifetime protection against all the threats in the world. If you are wondering why then that is because everything is evolving. New hiring is happening; your organization is expanding; you’re handling various types of data; you’re upgrading your systems. ALSCO emphasizes on the fact that old best practices are constantly becoming obsolete.
If you want to steer clear of the hackers’ and cybercriminals’ advanced tactics against vulnerable systems, you need to keep auditing and reevaluating your security measures. Protocols, practices, and processes need to be audited on a regular basis.
Improve Security
Improving the general security of your organization is an important step as well. While this is a multifaceted topic, it’s not entirely impossible to be comprehensive here. ALSCO recommends that people use techniques like better architecture, VPNs, firewalls, traffic monitoring and restraint, and even regular updates, which can make a significant difference. Not just this, it’s also very important to keep evaluating your third parties closely; even a minor cursory connection to a non-scrutinized organization can result in an alarming threat to you.
Lastly, Employee Training
It may sound like the hardest pill to swallow, but most data breaches don’t occur due to some dedicated hacker bullying its way past your best put defenses. Instead, around 88% of data breaches are accreditable to human error — errors that often come from internal teams. All it takes is a mere successful phishing email or a basic social engineering ploy to hack your entire system.
Hence, employee training on data security means well for both the organization and its employees. That means:
Teaching employees to trail best security tactics: Simple data prevention measures can act as a powerful defense against data breaches. It is imperative to train your employees to use strong passwords and never share them with anybody else. Not many realize it, but it’s a crucial step that companies usually neglect.
Establishing modus operandi and hierarchies: Just like password protection, it’s essential to set protocols and clearance levels for security. What steps should all the sensitive department teams be using? Who’s answerable to whom? In fact, the key is to conduct proper drills.
Educating employees on frequent threats: To educate employees on mostly known and common cybersecurity coercions that could lead them to understand more about a breach and how they can avoid one.
“For any reputable company, data breaches are expensive, time-consuming and bad for the portfolio. However, I believe that most data breaches are avertible. If you break a leg and train your employees well, you have all the balls in your court.”
– Mohammed Kifah, CEO ALSCO
