With all the news, the cyber attacks and legal implications out there you have to wonder why data security isn’t a priority for many of us…
It’s a “no-brainer”. For most of us, keeping our hard-earned salaries in a bank is essential for our day-to-day. Banks are more secure and offer extra value and convenience of being able to access our money from anywhere with a card… But wait, doesn’t that sound familiar?
Data is just as important, but we don’t view it in the same way. It’s a different story when our data is lost or stolen, we start pointing the finger and find someone to blame (usually ourselves). There’s a lot of similarities between how we manage money and data but there is one difference that isn’t treated in the same way.
Simply put, in our eyes, data isn’t valuable until it’s required.
If we’re to take data security seriously then we need to collectively broaden our perspective on it. Data is valuable and even more so if it falls into the wrong hands or is lost forever.
Not all data is created equal though, like a 1 pence piece compared to £1000. Our approach to data should be the same: HR details, legal case files, company accounts and personal information should all be treated as high-value/risk.
Family holiday photos, favourite music and non-sensitive documents, although usually sentimental. Upholding the security of this type of data is not as important, job or life threatening. Therefore the same kind of security is not required.
Recently, big players in the industry; Facebook and Google have had their spotlight of data breaches which brings the question forward, could this have been avoided? Are they setting a good example for the rest of us to follow?
There is now talk in the media about “When big companies are hacked, should they have to disclose it immediately?” It’s increasing pressure on responsibility, although the responsibility is predominately on large organisations, it’s inevitable that smaller companies will feel the pressure too at some point in the near future.
In conclusion it’s up to you to ensure you have the right layer of protection for your business, whether that be: secure-cloud storage, encryption, two-factor, secure-back up or a mixture of different layers.
Now is the time to take your data security seriously.
How do you protect your business-critical data?
