Just like you have a safety plan for your company in order to prevent accidents and deter crime, it’s just as important for you to have a network security plan to safeguard your business’s vital data. Piracy, hacking and viruses can happen from anywhere in the world and if your number comes up, the results can be devastating. So take a look at five easy recommendations to get you started in creating or updating your information security plan:
Understand the advantages and dangers of social media: Social media is changing the way businesses reach their customers and can be a great way to interact directly with your target audience. But there are pitfalls, including disgruntled customers venting their frustration for the world to see on your site and hackers who exploit security vulnerabilities in some social media sites.
Lock down customer data: Your customer data is like money itself, so don’t leave it out on a table for all to see. Credit card information should be hidden unless a sales transaction is occurring, and only employees who have a reason to open customer records should have the ability to do so.
Have redundancy in personnel and training: If your only IT resource goes on vacation or is out sick, who will cover his job duties while he is gone? If a system fails, make sure someone else understands the network security plan and how to perform disaster recovery.
Provide guidelines for employees: Your information security plan is less effective if it is known only by the person who wrote it. Let your employees know what they should and shouldn’t be doing with the company computers. Certain web sites can open your operation to piracy and workers who login in from off-site can also expose your data by using unsecured connections, such as at a hotel or coffee shop.
Get a second opinion from someone who knows more: Even if you have in-house IT people, offer them the resources to hire outside experts to evaluate your network security plan. (Don’t make your own people feel inadequate, but let them know that you want to provide them with the resources they need to get the job done right.)
There are so many things to know and understand about computer networks that it can be daunting to sit down and create your own network security plan. But with these general guidelines, we hope you feel inspired to examine your organizations challenges and begin to address how your vital company information can be better protected.