2 Golden Rules of Small Business Security

Think security is difficult and expensive? Think security is boring? Do you think “it’ll never happen to me”? Do you often say “I should worry about being secure but I’m too busy and I’m really not all that interested”? If you’ve answered yes to any of the questions above, you’re in the majority. Below you’ll find the top 2 tips, yes only 2, to keep your business secure in 2011 and beyond.

Before the tips, let me give you some background on why we are sharing these tips. Throughout the course of the past few years we at Shugo have spoken with many small businesses on security. Whether it’s conversations with prospects, discussions with current clients or presentations at industry conferences, the top question we are asked is: What are the top tips you can give me to keep my business secure?

Without Further Ado, Here They Are:

1. If you don’t need, destroy it.

This concept is simple, if you don’t need a piece of data anymore, get rid of it. By following this tip, you’ll reduce you’re secure exposure because frankly, you don’t have it in your possession anymore.

Think about what you do with anything in life when you don’t need something any more. You relieve yourself of the item in order to make space for another item or just to keep things more organized. Whether it be clothes that don’t fit, a TV that has broken or a CD that you don’t listen to, we try to keep our lives simpler by removing things we don’t use.

When it comes to security, the same rule applies. By destroying data, you are making your life simpler because you no longer need to worry about keeping it secure. It’s almost like the principle of “out of sight, out of mind” but in a much different context. Since the data has been destroyed, you can enjoy peace of mind in knowing that it’s no longer vulnerable for a breach.

How should you destroy data?

• Shred hard copies – If you don’t have one already, go out to your local office supplies store and invest in a shredder. Now every time you have a piece of paper which contains sensitive information, utilize the shredder to destroy the report.
• Digital shredder – Most anti-virus programs now come with “shredding” capabilities for your electronic files (the files stored on your computer). So when a file should be destroyed which contains sensitive information, utilize the “digital” shredder to be secure.

2. Educate yourself and your employees.

If you ask any security expert, they’ll agree that the key to keeping your company secure, no matter the size, is on security education for your staff. Though there are a number of tools out there to keep your firm secure, nothing is more important that your staff understanding the need for security and following the processes set forth to be secure.

If you look at any data breach stats, you’ll find a number of incidents a result of some sort of human involvement. As the old saying goes “we are only human”, we are prone to mistakes. Through security education, you can empower your employees to make conscious decisions on what the proper processes and procedures should be when working with sensitive data.

Article by SHUGO.