It’s every business’s worst nightmare – something has compromised your computer software, putting hundreds of megabytes of data at risk of being stolen or destroyed. Keeping your company data safe as a business is a gargantuan task, but thanks to the ever-growing technology industry, it’s getting a little easier to keep on top of things.
Making sure that your data is safe from internal and external threats is a top priority. Let’s check out five tips for protecting your company data.
1. Make Sure Your Connection is Secure
When you’ve got your computer connected to an internet server, it’s inevitably connected to millions of other computers as well, as they are all sharing the same network. Of course, this can mean an easy route into your computer system.
This is why it’s essential that you make sure to connect to all of your destination websites using a secure network that is encrypted. Some networks offer double authentication, making them even more secure. This is going to significantly reduce the risk of your computer software being infiltrated.
2. Try an Antivirus
Installing an antivirus software program on your business computers is a great way to protect your computer software. However, this is only half of the solution – you’ve also got to make sure that your antivirus software stays up to date, too. Otherwise, it could be considered vulnerable and open to attacks.
Whatever kind of software or information you have on your work computers, it’s vital that you protect them against viruses that can easily travel through downloadable files and programs.
3. Try Insider Threat Detection Software
Not all threats come from the outside. Sometimes, the biggest threat to your computer software already has access to it. While there are many hackers and phishers out there that are constantly trying to gain access to computer networks of large companies, there is also the issue of monitoring your employees as well.
Whether it’s intentional or not, employees often do things within your business’ computer system that can compromise the security of your data. This is why it’s important to install sophisticated insider threat detection software that can use behaviour analytics to monitor employee user activity. The more you know about the only activity of your employees, the better you will be able to prevent any internal threats to the system.
4. Get Rid of Pointless Software
Having redundant software stored on the work computer is nothing new – we have all installed something at some point and forgotten about it. While software like this may not even be on your radar, they could be doing more harm than good by just being on your computer.
Intruders love exploiting old software that hasn’t been updated in a while. Make sure to purge your work computers of all unnecessary software once a month, and update any software that you still need.
5. Don’t Keep Sensitive Data on Your Computer
Unfortunately, the risk of being hacked these days is too high for some, which is why it pays to use discretion when deciding on what your work computers are used for. If the data is too sensitive, then perhaps it’s not worth keeping it on the computer. This is where a hard drive comes in handy because you can keep precious data safe and away from the computer system.
Protecting your computer software as a business is easier said than done. Luckily, though, we live in a day and age where there are practical, effective options. Check out this list of five tips for protecting your computer software, and experience peace of mind knowing your software is a little bit safer.
