Data protection is important across all business sectors but is especially so in situations where a company holds confidential information, such as medical records. Cybercrime is now one of the biggest threats to face modern businesses and the theft of confidential information puts not only yourself but your clients, customers and patients at risk. Here are 5 things you can do to help keep your data safe.
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Update your password policy
Passwords are a huge part of cyber safety and yet 3 out of 4 people still use duplicate passwords and 47% of people use passwords that are over 5 years old. If your employees are not using strong passwords then they are putting your business at risk. Create a password policy that protects your business, educated your employees on the importance of password security and have the change their passwords regularly. For the strongest passwords, you can even use an online generator. -
Us an IT services company
A specialist Healthcare IT company can help keep your data secure by monitoring your network 24/7 for any suspicious activity. If anything does crop up, their team will be able to act instantly to secure the threat and stop it from turning into anything more sinister. IT service companies will also handle the maintenance and upkeep of your devices, helping you to stay secure with antivirus and malware software. -
Install your own antivirus
If you aren’t using an IT services provider to manage your hardware then it will be your responsibility to maintain your own antivirus software. Despite increasing threats from cybercriminals many businesses forget or neglect to ensure that all of their devices, including mobile phones, are properly equipped with antivirus software which leaves easy access for hackers. Find yourself a reliable antivirus software and have everyone install it, most top software will update itself automatically but you may need to schedule in periodic checks to ensure that it is always running properly. -
Use the cloud
If you are saving documents onto your physical computer then you risk losing them should your hardware be stolen. Instead, make use of cloud services which hold your documents and data online in a secure server. This means that in the event that your laptop is stolen or you leave it on the bus you will still be able to access all of your files from another computer but the person who stole your computer won’t be able to access them. -
Back up your data
One of the best and easiest ways to secure your data is to ensure that it is regularly backed up. Although no one wants to think about having their data stolen, in the event that it does happen a back up will ensure you still have access to it. Try to back up your data as often as you can, this may seem like a tedious task but it can be made easier with automatic backups and you could save yourself a lot of money and stress later down the line.
