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Privacy and Security – Why They Matter and How Your Business Can Achieve Them

– Contributed content –

9 August 2018. One of the things that many entrepreneurs find most difficult about running a modern business is the task of making sure that they get all the technical things right. These days, matters of privacy and security are more important than ever before, but there are still small businesses out there that aren’t taking the threat seriously. Your business could already be a target for criminals, so what are you going to do to stay safe?

By retaining your privacy and taking steps to bolster your security, your business should be able to evade the many threats that are out there waiting to pounce. But if you don’t know how to improve privacy and security and you don’t even know why these things matter all that much, it can be difficult for you. You’re going to learn about all that and more right now, so read on and discuss the points made.

Binoculars searching graphic

(PXHere)

Why Does Your Business Require Privacy and Security Measures?

There are some pretty plain and straightforward reasons why your business needs to take privacy and security seriously. Of course, it’s very easy to bury your head in the sand and now pay attention until something goes wrong, but that’s not good for anyone.

Your money can be stolen easily if you’re not careful

It’s much easier than you think to steal your money. Fraudsters can use the internet to gain access to your accounts if you’re not being careful and securing things properly. It’s a shame that you have to put so much thought into not being robbed, but that’s the situation we find ourselves in today, and you simply have to adapt to that reality. You don’t want to be made to feel stupid after falling victim to a crude online scam, but it happens far more than people realize.

Fraud techniques are becoming increasingly elaborate

It’s not just the crude scams you can fall victim to though. There’s also a whole host of elaborate and hard to detect scams that are run by people who really know what they’re doing when it comes to stealing people’s money. You don’t want your business to fall victim to those either, and you really don’t need to if you’re willing to learn and stay informed. There are resources out there that can help you to learn about the latest scams that these fraudsters are using.

Your customers could be put at risk

It’s not just your business that could be put at risk when you’re targeted by scammers. There’s also a chance that your customers could be targeted as well. If you start customer data and information, the criminals could target this and aim to steal all kinds of details about your customers. Your customers would completely lose trust in your band if it was found out that you had lost their financial details and sensitive information. That’s not what you want to happen, so be careful.

You don’t want company secrets leaked

Privacy matters a lot when it comes to developing a new product that you want to later take to market. If people already know what’s coming, it really does wreck the surprise a little. So you should avoid leaks, but it’s not just about maintaining that surprise. It’s all about making sure that your rivals don’t get a whiff of what you have planned next because that could make them major rivals of yours again. Keep your cards close to your chest and focus on …

Lock and key graphic

(Pixabay)

The Steps Your Business Should Take

Now you know a bit about why these two things matter so much to anyone trying to run a successive small business, it’s time to talk about some of the steps your business might want to take to improve the situation.

Secure your WiFi

If you still use an unsecured WiFi, that’s something that’s very risky and very unusual in this day and age. Every wifi connection needs to be secured with a full password, and don’t make it something that’s too easy to guess. If the connection is not secured, anyone can get onto it, and this is when they can start messing with accounts and maybe even steal details if they get the chance to. That’s not what you want, so secure your WiFi if it isn’t secured already.

Use two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication is when you have to go through another check to prove that you’re the person who you say you are. This extra layer means that entering a password isn’t enough, and the question will be linked to something that the owner of the account chooses. If it means there’s less chance of someone stealing your sensitive information, this is certainly worth it, so Two-factor authentication definitely is definitely a possibility now. It’s so easy to set up, but it really could save your skin as well.

Work with secure online service providers

You definitely want to work with the kinds of companies that take security seriously. For example, if you want to use an online fax service, you should check the security policies of the company before you go ahead. And the same applies to any privacy policies they might have. It’s all well and good getting your own approach to privacy and security right, but it’s not worth much if you’re being undermined by companies that you work with, so choose the best companies to work with.

Create a strong privacy policy

You need to not only have a good approach how you’re going to keep your privacy safe from prying eyes, but how you’re also going to keep it safe in general. This means that you should come up with some specific privacy policies that everyone who works for your business needs to follow in the months and years ahead of us. Everyone should be very clear on what’s expected from them in terms of adhering to this policy.

Encrypt sensitive information

If you really need to transport some documents or information from yourself to someone else, or vice versa, you need to make sure that you us encryption. This is one of those things that you can start putting into action straight away. It allows you to ensure that no one can intercept and read your emails in order to read encoded anything. It’s relatively simply, yet very powerful. A properly encrypted email won’t be read by anyone but the intended recipient, and that’s got to be a good thing.

Train your employees correctly

The training really will go a long way when you’re trying to get your employees to where they need to be. And it’s up to them to look after the privacy and security of your business, so there’s definitely nothing wrong in training them in these areas. If you don’t do this, they will make the kinds of mistakes that arise because of a lack of understanding. There are plenty of training courses out there that you can make the most of if your team is lacking in this department.

Keep backups

It’s definitely important to keep backups of your files because when you fail to do this, you make it easier for your business to be completely derailed by a data breach of some kind. You want to be able to carry on regardless, even if something does go badly wrong in terms of your business’s privacy and security. Back up to the cloud and then call on it when you need it most. It doesn’t take long to do, but it could really save your skin one day.

Implement a strong password policy

Password policies are just as important as they ever were, so if you want to make sure that no one can hack into your accounts and get access to the kind of information they need in order to steal money from you, it’s important to implement a very robust password policy. No one should choose lazy options because this can make the entire business vulnerable, and that’s clearly not what you want. It might seem like a relatively small thing, but it has a big impact.

Use a firewall

Finally, you need to make sure that you use a proper firewall that’s been set up correctly and is capable of blocking out all kinds of cyber threats. There are so many of them out there, as we’ve already mentioned. So by installing a strong firewall that will immediately block anything that’s obviously mission of there. Find an IT professional who can help you with creating this firewall if you don’t really know what you’re doing with all this. It’s’ worth taking the time to get this right.

As you can see, there are so many things that you can and should do to secure the privacy and security of your business online. Just make sure that you don’t make any silly mistakes and implement as many of these ideas as swiftly as possible. The sooner you do that, the sooner your business will become private and secure.

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