4 Data Security Mistakes That Every Company Needs To Avoid.

Business data should never be taken for granted. It is one of the most valuable assets any business can have. Data helps understand the end-users, their buying behavior, and how they interact with your business.

It also includes sensitive information about your customers’ payments and banking cards. Sadly, many companies fail to understand the importance of protecting user data and fall prey to data breaches and illegitimate access by hackers.

Data breaches have become more prevalent than ever before. Companies hire cloud security professionals to protect their cloud operations through different methodologies like the least privilege principle that restricts and controls user access to ensure no misuse of the resources.

When it comes to data breaches, it’s essential to understand the security vulnerabilities that cause the problems. This will enable you to take the required precautions to secure your company’s data against breaches; in certain cases, you only need a reliable data protection and backup service.

For now, here are four data security mistakes that you need to avoid to ensure the highest data protection.

• Confusing data security as just a minor IT issue

  Table of Contents

  Toggle

Companies and decision-makers often make the mistake of underestimating the significance of data security processes. Many think it is just another IT process like installing antiviruses on the computers. They fail to predict the consequences of a data breach and do not take the necessary steps to protect the business data.

Data breaches and malware attacks can potentially destroy any company mainly because the users’ sensitive personal information is exposed to the whole world.

The multi-million dollar lawsuits on the tech giants like Google and Facebook can be an effective eye-opener to encourage you to take necessary steps to protect your business data from internal and external attacks.

Don’t forget, you will also have to pay massive fines and penalties to the government and other regulatory agencies in the event of a security breach. That is why you should never think of data security as merely an IT process but one of your business’s most essential core operations.

• Giving unnecessary access to system users

System access misuse is one of the major reasons behind data leaks. A poor security plan can provide access to different system users, leading to illegitimate access to various system components.

The least privilege access is based on the least privilege principle that ensures separation of duties. When different users get access only to the resources they are supposed to access, it reduces the likelihood of permissions being misused, thus reducing the chances of data breaches.

For example, in a poor security plan, the system administrator would have access to the entire network. So, if the system administrator’s account is compromised, the attackers gain access to the entire system. The attacker can now access, alter, or delete the classified information, leading to major security concerns for the company.

To avoid this, it is necessary to use a cloud security platform that uses the least privilege principle to allot permissions to users only based on what they need to have access to.

• Not upgrading the software with the latest security patches and updates

Technology undoubtedly is the backbone of many companies today. Unfortunately, the same technology can also put your business at risk. The tech companies are aware of numerous threats like malware, viruses that keep on attacking different companies.

Hackers are constantly working on ways to tackle your security measures and will find some vulnerability in your system eventually. That is why tech companies regularly release security patches and updates to protect their apps, software, APIs, and modules from getting breached.

Many companies keep using old systems that are prone to attack by hackers. It is essential to regularly download and install the latest security patches and updates to ensure data protection.

There should be a routine system audit that will reveal pending security updates and security vulnerabilities that need to be fixed before they turn into catastrophes.

• Lack of essential training to the staff

It would be difficult to avoid a security threat if your employees don’t know what to do to prevent it in the first place. Though many companies employ network security experts to secure their cloud operations and system network, numerous users access the systems. Generally, they do not have any idea about security malpractices at the workplace.

Many of them leave their system passwords written on their desks or into files on the computer itself. They often open spam emails or open links that can cause malware attacks on the system.

That is why it is essential to train your staff with different security training programs to teach them the best practices to ensure data protection. They also need to be educated about the potential actions that can cause a data breach, so they can avoid such actions.

Avoiding common data security mistakes can significantly reduce your company’s chances of getting attacked by hackers and malware and improve your data security.