March 29, 2024

Tyna Woods

Technology does the job

The First 5 Steps to Securing Company Information

Every organization has some form of information that is used every day for its business purposes. To protect sensitive information such as: customer payment information; employee data; or other strategic information, it is very important to take security measures and ensure that the information never enters public access. The following are steps to secure information belonging to an organization.

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1. Using encryption to transfer data

Many organizations have understood the importance of implementing security measures to protect and secure information systems in corporate networks from unauthorized access. Sensitive data is always accessed and interacted with all kinds of people and applications, therefore to protect information when accessed through the system requires organizations to encrypt data in order to protect and secure the information itself. Encryption is a form of securing information by making the information unreadable without the help of a special translator.

2. Create policies to handle information

If an organization is not able to properly distinguish between sensitive information and non-sensitive information, it is impossible to secure important data. A data policy code is able to describe the types of data that are considered sensitive and is able to define strict processes for identifying and handling and securing various types of data. A multilevel data classification system can help to distinguish between sensitive and non-sensitive information.

Security measures are in place for each level of data, the first level being very sensitive data that can cause serious damage and requires the highest level of security and access is only allowed on a special need basis. The second level is sensitive enough data that can pose a relatively low risk and requires few security controls and internal access rights. Then the third level is non-sensitive data that poses no risk to the organization and only requires security with little or no access restrictions.

3. Choose software that is safe for the organization

Determine the software recommended by information security systems experts for the security standards used. The software you use may not follow reliable security procedures and may increase the chances of Hackers accessing sensitive information. This becomes a serious problem especially when handling and storing customer payment information through accounting software.

There are several basic steps for organizations to be able to select and identify secure software, namely by: choosing software from a trusted provider; perform a thorough analysis of software requirements; conduct some research to identify the most suitable and safe software for the organization; read reviews and feedback of the software to be selected. It doesn’t matter even though the price is relatively high if the software chosen is suitable and safe for the organization.

4. Using a personal computer

The use of computers or personal devices is an integral part of life and work, besides bringing productivity and cost-effectiveness benefits, it can also secure sensitive data from unauthorized access. It is appropriate to use personal computers to prevent sensitive data from being accessed and stored by unauthorized persons.

5. Improve password security

Hackers use various methods to try to get into your account. The most common method is to manually type letters, numbers, and symbols to guess the password. A more sophisticated method is to use the “brute force attack” method. In this technique, the computer program runs every possible combination of letters, numbers, and symbols as quickly as possible to crack the password. The longer and more complex the password, the longer this process will take. Passwords of three characters take less than a second to crack. The use of weak passwords is a very common problem and is one of security that can be significantly improved by cyber security training and introduction to various password management applications. Most sensitive data theft is caused by a few basic information security mistakes.