Top Essential Preparation Tips to Avoid a Web Security Breach

Security breaches within data management systems are a lot more common than we would like to think. We have already discussed several important security breaches topics throughout this year, including the Pentagon Data Breach and the Ticketmaster Data Breach, to name a couple.

Whether you are a business entity or an individual, you should be concerned about protecting your client's data or using a service that can safeguard your personal information. We continually discuss several few points that are essential in order to avoid a security breach. However, many of the methods are not 100% fail-proof, which it is why it always best to employ all known measures possible to minimize the possibility of data theft.

End User Awareness

We can divide this section into two parts, depending on who the end user is: a client or an employee. If we're talking about your employees, it is extremely important that they receive the proper training in regards to cybersecurity. More often than not, security breaches occur due to negligence in the lower tiers, where employees open phishing emails and involuntarily share important information with cybercriminals. It is important that your employees learn to recognize the features of a potential phishing attack so that they could stay away from it.

As far as clients are concerned, they should employ all the possible measures to protect their personal login credentials from potential theft. If possible, they should enable multi-factor authentication, and they should work on using strong passwords to access their accounts. In turn, they can also employ a password manager to generate, store, and administer their passwords. This might sound like a hassle, but it would take a big load off one's shoulders, while at the same time offering a new layer of security.

Reliable Software

Another important thing to consider if you want to avoid security breaches is the software that you use. A reputable company would never indulge in utilizing unreliable software for information sharing. In fact, sometimes even certified applications may have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malware creators to spread malicious programs and steal sensitive information. You have to make sure that your computers run only licensed programs and applications that are up-to-date.

The possibility of a nasty security breach will decrease if you make sure that your employees do not use their personal accounts for business emails. Of course, this might sound obvious, but as long as they need to send a business-related email, they SHOULD be using the work email. Not only does this minimize a potential level of confusion that would arise from using too many email addresses, but this would also allow the firm to control the flow of information better.

Information Storage & Backup

Backing up your data is important, just as important as using a password to secure your online banking account. It's not just about security breaches, there's a much bigger picture when it comes to backing up your data. We have to remember that malware programs like ransomware infections may target businesses, too. Additionally, ransomware infections are really good at encrypting everything the victims have on their systems and keeping it hostage until the victims pay the ransom fee. If you have your data backed up on an external hard drive or on another server, the problem of permanently losing data from a ransomware infection virtually disappears.

Also, consider using a Cloud where you could store your business data. If you keep your client data on the cloud, you won't have to worry about losing the data in the case of some hardware malfunction or malware infection. Moreover, if you update your passwords regularly and only give access to these servers to a limited number of people, you would automatically increase the level of your client's data security.

Vulnerability Assessment

With all the preparations in place, there is also another thing that you can do to avoid a security breach. As you can see from the title of this section, we're talking about vulnerability assessment. To put it simply, vulnerability assessment is a type of process that identifies and checks potential security vulnerabilities within a system.

Security experts maintain that such assessments should be carried out at least every week. If your company performs such tests only every quarter, you might want to step it up a little. If you do not have the means to perform such an assessment on your own, you can always hire a third-party company or a service to perform it for you. It is a lot better to invest in security than pay for the losses later on.

Security Breach Response Plan

Let's say the worst happens, and you need to deal with a security breach. As much as you might not want to think about it, you MUST have a response plan in case the security breach really happens. You have to be ready for the worst so that you could offer your clients the best service even if their data gets leaked. Think of all the questions that your clients might ask if the security breach occurs; You have to be ready to answer them all.

It might seem that a security breach response plan might not help much if the data is already leaked. However, a response plan is still better than nothing; and it boosts your reputation. An immediate response is always something a client wants, so if you couldn't avoid a security breach, you might as well start with evaluating the losses and checking the exact time frame of the theft. If possible, find the culprit. The sooner you act, the less damage you will take, and you will also be able to restore the public's trust in your company.

All in all, the essence of being proactive is the primary goal in being able to avoid a security breach or the detrimental fallout from one. There are many layers of security that you should take into account when you work towards preparing. Not to mention, preparation has never hurt anyone. If you are not sure where you start, you can always hire a cybersecurity specialist who will guide you towards the right direction. You know what they say, better be safe than sorry.