Data is the bedrock on which any business functions. Without it, an organization ceases to achieve its goals and serve its customers. Every effective cybersecurity plan must therefore place data front and center, considering the latest, most reliable ways of preserving its safety, security, and accuracy.
In part six of our seven-part series on IT security, we’ll now explore the importance of robust data protection and the best ways of implementing this in your business today.
Data protection vs. data privacy vs. data backup
While the three concepts share plenty in common, data protection security bears a few significant differences from data privacy and data backup.
Data protection refers to the tools, technologies, and practices used to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of a user’s data assets. Data backup is just one example of data protection, and it is generally considered a staple of good operational management, rather than an exclusively security-based practice.
Meanwhile, data privacy involves the policies that determine who has access to what data. It’s a practice that forms the backbone of security compliance, often applied to personally identifiable information and personal health information within data-sensitive industries such as healthcare and finance.
How to improve data protection security
There are several best practices you should follow to keep your data out of harm’s way:
Take stock of your critical data assets
The first thing you should do is identify the types of data you have and where they’re located. This process is known as data discovery, and it allows you to pinpoint your most sensitive file assets (i.e., client records and intellectual property), their sources, and the order of priority they need to be sorted into. It also helps to understand how this data moves throughout your IT systems, as this paints a more accurate picture of how and why they need protection.
Automated tools are also available to streamline this process, allowing you to scan, identify, and keep track of crucial data in a fraction of the time.
Implement a data loss prevention (DLP) strategy
After taking your data into account, the next step is forming a comprehensive data loss prevention (DLP) plan. This involves the various tools and practices for ensuring your information is kept safe, helping your business maintain control over its data and mitigate risks before they cause damage.
Creating an effective DLP strategy will require thoughtful policies on how sensitive files should be handled, maintained, and transmitted. It should also include rules for how company resources, such as software applications and computer devices, should be used to avoid shadow IT. Additionally, consider implementing proper access controls and permissions to prevent unauthorized or unnecessary access to specific data types.
Ensure a consistent backup process
A multilayered backup strategy is essential to any data protection plan because even if your main sources of information are compromised, you’ve got reliable duplicates to restore the lost or corrupted files. It’s important to have both local and off-site backups, with the former offering quick data recovery on premises, while the latter provides a safety net in the case of on-site disasters.
To maintain backup efficiency and efficacy, automate a regular schedule of monthly, weekly, or even daily backups. Consider backing up your data both incrementally and on a full-system scale as needed so you can strike the right balance of recovery time, storage space, and file safety.
Leverage the right security tools
Any modern approach to data security requires the latest tools and technology. These could range from multifactor authentication, identity and access management systems, and data encryption, on top of basic antivirus software and firewalls.
You needn’t jump straight into the newest enterprise-grade technologies, however. Investing in the right security tools will depend on your business’s specific data needs, so take the time to assess the pain points within your systems and the appropriate hardware or software that could address them.
Have a disaster recovery plan
To cap off your data protection strategy, a disaster recovery plan can ensure business continuity even in the direst circumstances.
Crafting your disaster recovery plan should start with a thorough business impact analysis, which helps you identify the most critical systems and functions within your company. This should then determine the potential impact a disruption could have on certain aspects of your business, helping you prioritize these as necessary. To ensure the reliability of your disaster recovery plan over time, test your protocols regularly, adapting them to new or emerging threats as needed.
Seeking to boost your data protection? With SpectrumWise’s “7 Layers of Security” package, we’ll equip you with everything you need to keep your devices, network systems, and data assets secure for the long term. From physical security to access control policies, our team will guide you through the fundamentals of a comprehensive security framework. Grant yourself peace of mind today — get in touch for a free consultation.
