Digitised assets are becoming the norm, especially with consumers preferring digital transactions. The accessibility of mobile payments is changing how different sectors are interacting with their customers. Although it’s a welcome technological advancement for the current generation, it doesn’t come without potential threats.
Data is vulnerable to external and internal threats in the digital space if you don’t have the right security measures. For this reason, business owners need to strengthen their digital infrastructure by crafting a data protection strategy.
Reinforcing your digital infrastructure’s defenses
People tend to confuse data security and data privacy. Data privacy measures are how an individual or business entity allows access to files and documents to a select set of individuals. The most common example of this is when an eCommerce company asks you to input your name and address for product deliveries. In contrast, data security measures protect your data from threats like unauthorised access and leaks. Although both follow two different levels of protection and access, they both work hand-in-hand to create a robust defense for your business’s digital infrastructures.
Here is a four-step guide on setting up your data protection strategy:
Step#1: Plot your business’s data map
When developing a data protection strategy, you must first map out how data travels to and from your system. Determine where the data exists, who has access to them and who holds access controls for them. Instead of one person, you may have a team or department to handle these processes. It’s best to simplify your data map for now to avoid any consistencies in revising your data protection strategy.
Step#2: Organise your data according to sensitivity
Afterward, you should perform sensitive data discovery to classify the different data types in your digital infrastructure. This will help you realign some processes based on urgency or security clearance access. Create a scale of which data requires the least protection to the ones that pose the highest risk for mishandling.
Step#3: Monitor your data’s beginnings and ends
Before you make any adjustments to your current digital infrastructure, it’s necessary to monitor the current flow of data first. Doing so will help you understand the movement between locations and the liabilities of its specific handlers. Think of it as plotting the physical journey of a physical asset, from packing it in one location then shipping it to another. You can survey your data by using server monitoring software to easily track where one packet of data starts and ends its journey.
Step#4: Identify potential data risks
Evaluating your business’s current situation will help you make the right security upgrades to protect your company and customer data. After going through the previous steps, you will start noting inefficiencies and weaknesses in your digital infrastructure. This lets you see how vulnerable your systems are in anticipating or responding to data threats. You can employ data loss prevention, privileged access management, encryption protocols and more, depending on your business’s unique situations.
You shouldn’t always put your complete trust in technology. Although innovative applications’ accessibility continues to grow and adapt to our needs, you should still keep your guard up. The development of modern interactions will also equate to the advancement of modern security threats. For this reason, it’s necessary to reinforce your personal and business transactions with the appropriate preventative measures.
Consulting with data security professionals is an excellent way to improve your business’s data protection strategy. FraudWatch International is an Australia-based cybersecurity intelligence company that collaborates with business owners on their business’s protection. Contact us today, and our cyber intelligence analysts will provide the necessary upgrades against different cyber threats.
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