Any organization’s data is very important and it is essential to provide protection for it. Clients fully trust organizations with their data is it leaves a very bad impression if they are unable to provide security and privacy for it.
There are many examples where companies lost trust of their clients due to a data breach. Facebook, a highly popular social media and networking company, was recently fined $1.6 billion when it took a large hit and attackers were able to access personal data of over 50 million users. They lost a large majority of their users trust and an investigation was opening which lead to a hefty fine.
Other than this, Uber and eBay are also some of the companies who were exposed to an attack. This shows how important Data Security and Privacy really is. But just knowing how important they are isn’t enough. Companies need to implement policies and proper trainings as well.
What causes such attacks
Attacks can happen in any way or form. Attackers are waiting and looking for any vulnerabilities in the system so that they can exploit them. It is a common assumption that most attacks are due to a malicious attack but that’s not always the case. Attacks can be due to human errors and system malfunctions too. Human errors include social engineering. Attackers trick employees into handling over sensitive data such as login details or files. Other than this, attacks can be combination of the above three factors as well.
How to Prevent them
As cliché as it sounds, the best way to stop an attack is to prevent it. Companies should adopt better security practices and policies and hyper converged cloud is best equipped for it.
Enhanced Policies
There should be a proper guide to follow in the event of an attack so that it can be handled in a more efficient manner.
Employee Trainings
It is very important to for a company to train its employees against security breaches and scams properly. Attackers take advantage of Customer Service agents to gain access to files and companies logins.
Reducing Human Error
Human error is unavoidable but it can be reduced to a certain amount. Trainings should be conducted to help reduce this as much as possible.
Encryption
Encryption is the key. All the systems should be encrypted, even those which are rarely used and those assigned to interns (if any), as it takes only 1 vulnerability to breach an attack.
Updates
All systems and software’s should be kept up to date. Older versions are prone to vulnerabilities and keeping systems updates solves that.
Lastly, Backup your data
I cannot emphasize more on the importance of backing up your data. It is not really a prevention
BUT backing up your data is like an insurance and you can easily recover your data if an attack occurs. Without backup, if an attacks occurs there is no way to recover your lost data, therefore backing up your data is of utmost importance.
Conclusion
Data Security and Privacy plays an important role in developing and maintaining the reputation of a company in front of its clients. It is something which cannot be neglected and should be practiced properly. Attacks can happen at any time without any invitation so it’s best to be prepared and follow prevention strategies. Backup your data regular so in case the prevention strategy fails you have all your data backed up in a secure location ready to be recovered.