There is one popular saying we agree with 100% — data is the new gold! If you own any kind of business, you generate a lot of valuable data you need to store and keep safe. Losing this data will not only compromise your business, but it will also make you lose your customers’ trust.
Luckily, there are numerous ways to protect your data. Accidents happen, so there is little chance you will create a bubble in which you will be immune to them. However, you can minimise the consequences of these accidents and breakdowns by implementing some of the tips we will share below.
Let’s begin.
Hire a Data Recovery Company
Data recovery companies do exactly what you think they do. You can hire them as a safeguard against losing valuable data irretrievably. For example, if you live in Australia and you google Data Recovery Perth, you will get countless results, many of which include Tech Brain.
All of these companies work to create a data recovery plan which will be executed in case there is a breakdown that will cause some or all of your data to be lost or compromised. Apart from doing a backup of your documents, they are also able to relocate them to a different location or take them to the cloud where they will be completely safe for years to come.
Encrypt Your Data
Protecting your data does not only mean making backups in order not to lose it. Your data can also be stolen by hackers and used against you to achieve a financial advantage. Therefore, the next thing you can do to stay safe is to encrypt your data. Businesses and ordinary individuals alike can benefit from this step.
Luckily, data encryption is not just for IT experts and geeks — anyone can do it rather easily today. Modern apps make it possible to encrypt your emails, sensitive information, and other communication mediums. When possible, you should use communication apps with built-in encryption, which will significantly increase your safety.
Educate Yourself About Malware and Phishing
Knowledge is your strongest weapon when it comes to protecting your valuable data. Malware and phishing are the two most popular tools and techniques cybercriminals use to obtain data. The best way to protect yourself against these is to be knowledgeable about them and prevent them before they even happen.
If you are a business owner, make sure to educate your staff as well. Phishing emails and calls are clever, but they are easy to differentiate from regular emails and calls if you know what signs to look for.
By not sharing any sensitive information via email or phone without double- or triple-checking the source and the recipient, you can save yourself a headache. Moreover, make sure not to download files or install software from unverified sources, as these can often contain malware that can do a lot of damage to your data.
Use Tried and Tested Anti-Virus Software
We’ve all heard a lot about anti-virus software, but not everyone understands the importance of having that layer of protection. Installing any anti-virus programme won’t do the trick — to get the best possible protection, you should only consider the best-rated ones. A quality anti-virus programme will update itself regularly and keep its virus database up to date. Therefore, it will be able to recognise even the newest threats, which is something not all anti-virus programmes can do.
Decent anti-virus software is crucial when it comes to protecting your data because it will prevent you from installing malicious apps, downloading sketchy files, or even visiting websites which are a possible threat. Therefore, make sure to install a legal anti-virus programme and update it regularly in order to stay on top of your game.
Create Strong Passwords
Security breaches do not always happen because of weak passwords. However, it is good to know that they don’t ever need to happen because of such an easily preventable reason. Your date of birth or your pet’s name are not strong passwords.
If you use passwords like these which contain just letters or numbers, have no special characters, and no upper- and lower-case letters, you are looking for trouble. The ideal password is at least 16 characters long and contains all the elements we have mentioned above.
Moreover, make sure not to use the same password for all of your accounts. The first thing cybercriminals do when they break one of your passwords is to try it on all accounts and websites linked to your name or your email address.
Image Source: malwarebytes.com
