Corporate data can make or break your business. Businesses worldwide take conscious efforts to secure their sensitive corporate information. Corporate data includes crucial details about the business’s finances, growth plan, employees, customers and competitors. According to United Nations, 137 out of 194 countries have put legislation in place to secure data privacy and protection. With the advancement of technology, businesses have begun storing, securing and exchanging their corporate data internally with the help of digital mediums. Mobile devices, the internet, cloud-based platforms are all used for storing and circulating corporate data in an enterprise environment.
Since corporate data circulation within the enterprise environment uses multiple mediums, it is important for organizations to effectively secure these mediums. Because our world is so technologically forward, it has several strategies and solutions to secure various aspects of an enterprise. But this technological advancement is also a reason for the rise in cybercrimes. Hackers always like to be one step ahead and target any loopholes that an enterprise’s security system may have.
What Are the Implications of Corporate Data Loss
Businesses are responsible for protecting not only their own data but also extremely confidential employee and customer data. Data breaches in any form, be it accidental data loss due to loss of employee device, improper security precautions are taken by the employees, or due to a poorly secured corporate network, the prices that businesses have to pay are huge.
- Hefty monetary penalties
According to IBM’s Annual Data Breach Report, the global annual cost of data breaches in 2021 was $4.24 million. Businesses have to endure legal actions and pay hefty regulatory fines and investigational costs to compensate for the loss of their sensitive business data. - Loss of brand reputation
Data breaches are a sign of incapability of a business to protect its sensitive data which makes the existing customers lose faith in your brand. This may have serious consequences on the sales and damage your brand reputation. - Hampered business continuity
Businesses tend to face a serious revenue loss given that the enterprise has to incur hefty charges to deal with the lawsuits and also to implement a better security system. Enterprises can lose their edge in the market and have difficulty gaining newer customers. Data breaches can impact the business’s continuity.
7 Data & Network Security Best Practices
Data breaches may be a result of external factors such as hackers hacking into the corporate network or due to internal agents such as employees clicking on malicious links or connecting their devices to untrusted WiFi, creating an entry point for hackers.
Even a single event of data loss, whether intentional or accidental can cause a great deal of damage to your business. Let’s look at some of the best ways to keep your data and network safe.
- Configure a VPN
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) help businesses to create an encrypted connection between their employees’ devices and their corporate network. Businesses can opt for remote access VPNs, SSL VPNs or Site-to-site VPNs depending on their requirement. VPNs ensure corporate network security by hiding the user’s IP address and encrypting your data, which makes your internet activities and browsing history to outsiders.
- Ensure secure browsing
A lot of security breaches and data loss happen accidentally as employees click on malicious links and phishing emails, leading to malware infiltration. Businesses can deliver a safer browsing experience to their employees with the help of software such as mobile device management solutions, that help the enterprise’s IT admins to allow or block selective websites. This gives greater control to the businesses to ensure that their workforce does not accidentally fall prey to lurking network and data security threats.
- Secure corporate emails
Despite several instant communication tools that are available today to help businesses stay collaborated at all times, emails are the most formal business communication method. With the increase in remote working and greater adoption of BYOD management, employees are more prone to falling prey to phishing attacks.
Phishing attacks are emails that appear to come from popular and trusted sources, but spread malware in your system if clicked and collect all the confidential data stored on the device. Modern-day MDM solutions like Scalefusion, offer next-gen features such as Conditional Email Access to secure corporate emails. This security policy ensures that only those employees whose devices are MDM-managed and enterprise policy-compliant get to access the corporate emails. This goes a long way in preventing cyber-attacks and data compromisation.
- Passcode protection and verified access
The best and the simplest way to secure your devices against data loss is to password protect the devices. Enforcing passcode policies on your employees encourages them to create strong passwords for their devices that ensure verified access to the devices. Businesses can implement additional identity and access management features including Multi-factor authentication, Zero-trust Network Access, etc.
- Encrypt your corporate data
Data encryption is converting the business information into codes that cannot be read or decoded by strangers even if the data falls into the wrong hands. Data encryption involves a security key that is required to decrypt the data. This acts as a security backup plan and ensures that only authenticated users can access their business data. Most of the major OS offer built-in data encryption features such as Windows BitLocker, FileVault for macOS, etc. Else, there are several cloud-based data encryption tools available in the market.
- Regular network security maintenance
IT admins encourage employees to keep their systems up to date and are responsible for timely OS and app updates. This is a great way to keep cyber security risks at bay. Every OS upgrade brings along bug fixes, repairs and better features. Keeping track of system and app updates and ensuring regular patch fixes whenever necessary prevent security loopholes and hence leaves no room for hackers to covertly enter into your corporate network.
- Educate your employees
The last and the most important way to ensure data and network security is to educate your employees about maintaining security hygiene and the implications of accidental data breaches. Employees should not leave their work devices unattended, especially in the present-day remote working scenario. Employees must always comply with their enterprise policies and be alert and cautious when accessing the internet
Closing Lines
With enterprise mobility and remote working picking pace, businesses cannot limit their employee to working from confined office spaces. They can, however, take the necessary measures to secure their corporate networks and device and data security. MDM solutions offer extensive security capabilities that help businesses deploy layers of security. Businesses must devise enterprise-specific security policies that encompass device, data and network security guidelines to prevent themselves from encountering the numerous lurking cyber threats. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
