The Ultimate Guide to Securing Sensitive Business Data

A business’s ability to properly collect, analyze, and manage its data is a key factor that influences that business’s success.

However, one of the most crucial aspects in managing business data is keeping it safe, especially when it comes to sensitive data.

Sensitive data mainly refers to data like login information, personal customer data, or any other data that is meant to be kept away from outsiders at all times.

Keeping this data safe should be one of the main priorities of a business, especially since the threat of data breaches is as high as ever.

Here’s a quick guide to securing your sensitive business data.

Mind Your Passwords

Using weak passwords puts your sensitive business data in jeopardy. If your passwords are easy enough, hackers may be able to simply guess them through a brute force attack.

You should also never use the same password for more than one account.

Using the same password means that only one account needs to be hacked to access all of the other accounts using that same password.

The best way to ensure password protection is by using a password manager, which will allow you to create strong and different passwords and store them on your account.

Update All Software

Using old software means using weak software. And weak software is just as dangerous as weak passwords.

Operating system software, which contains many lines of code, is bound to have vulnerabilities.

Hackers know this, and they keep discovering new vulnerabilities in popular software, which puts every single user at risk. 

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The good news is that companies create security patches as soon as such a vulnerability is discovered, and then they release these patches as software updates.

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That’s why it’s crucial never to miss out on these important security updates if you want to protect your sensitive business data.

Encrypt Sensitive Data

When data is encrypted, it becomes scrambled and requires an encryption key for anyone to access it.

This encryption key is only available to the rightful owner and recipient of specific data, meaning that it’s closed off from hackers. 

There are many ways in which you can encrypt your business data. First, you should encrypt your office wifi.

Next, encrypt company emails, devices, and start using VPNs whenever working away from the office.

A VPN means “virtual private network”, and it is a mobile encryption tool that will secure all data on the device you enable it on.

Be Careful Who You Trust

Data breaches don’t always happen because of outside hackers. The simplest and most common way in which data gets breached is when someone with access to that data leaks it.

That’s why it’s so important to be careful who you trust with your sensitive business data. Before providing anyone with access to your data, ask yourself if it’s necessary.

It may sound a bit cynical, but you can’t even trust your employees to keep your sensitive business data safe at all times.

Don’t Click on Anything Suspicious

One of the most common ways in which sensitive business data gets leaked is through phishing, which is a form of social engineering that attempts to fool members of an organization into disclosing sensitive information.

Most phishing attempts occur through email. 

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For instance, a phishing email may be one that seems like it’s been sent from Instagram, saying, “dear user, you’ve been unexpectedly logged out because of suspicious behavior on your account.

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To retrieve access, please click on the link below and enter your login information. Failure to do so will result in the permanent deactivation of your account.”

This type of scam is playing with people’s emotions and is targeting people’s sense of fear. Nobody wants to get permanently locked out of their account, and many people may fall for such a scheme because of this.

Always beware of possible phishing schemes and think carefully before clicking on any such links or giving away any of your sensitive business information.

Conclusion

Securing sensitive business data is a crucial matter for every single company. Unfortunately, this is getting more and more difficult as the threats keep on growing.

After all, you can’t even be sure that your employees won’t leak your data.

If your business still isn’t following the tips mentioned above, your sensitive business data may be at risk, and it may not be long before a random hacker discovers this.

If you don’t want this to happen, review your business security right away!

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Avatar of Jonathon Spire
My diverse background started with my computer science degree, and later progressed to building laptops and accessories.And now, for the last 8 years, I have been a social media marketing specialist and business growth consultant.In my spare time I dabble in crypto and various types of automation.
Jonathon Spire

Jonathon Spire

Tech Blogger at Jonathon Spire

My diverse background started with my computer science degree, and later progressed to building laptops and accessories. And now, for the last 7 years, I have been a social media marketing specialist and business growth consultant.

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Jonathon Spire

I blog about a range of tech topics.

For the last 7 years I have been a social media marketing specialist and business growth consultant, so I write about those the most.

Full transparency: I do review a lot of services and I try to do it as objectively as possible; I give honest feedback and only promote services I believe truly work (for which I may or may not receive a commission) – if you are a service owner and you think I have made a mistake then please let me know in the comments section.

– Jon