How to secure your data
How to secure your data
There are five steps to creating a good security plan: Assess, Plan, Execute, Monitor and Repeat.
- Risks Assessment. Identify key digital assets and information that need to be protected, including hardware, software, documentation and data. Review the threats and risks. Make a prioritized list of items to protect.
- Plan. Create a work plan for preventing, detecting and responding to security threats. Identify who will be responsible for implementing and monitoring the plan. Agree on a timetable for implementation.
- Execute. Communicate with staff. Train where necessary. Remediate until all known threats are mitigated.
- Monitor. Continue to monitor for new threats and follow with prompt remediation. Build a mindset that security is a discipline and build this mindset into your culture. Software tools alone can’t secure your data. Continue to educate end users and those that have access to the data. Update and modify the plan and user access as changes occur in personnel, hardware or software.
- Repeat. Plan for a complete review periodically. Consider assessing quarterly but not longer than a time of six to twelve months after you complete the first plan or when your business goes through significant changes.
Commit to the program and don’t wait until an incident disrupts your business. It isn’t just the breach; it is the tarnished image that businesses get following the breach which is most costly. Statistics show that customers, typically the high profile ones, will abandon a company or system if they feel uncomfortable with the security of it.