In today’s world, technology plays an enormous part when it comes to having a positive impact, but it also has its risks, like the risk of a data breach.
A data breach is when confidential information is stolen, copied, viewed, transmitted, or used by an unauthorized person. Since many businesses are doing their transactions online with a constant internet connection, you are more accessible to a data breach. This is not the only reason data breaches occur. A common reason for data breach is due to employee mistakes and carelessness in business operations.
Data breach insurance helps to cover a variety of your liability and response expense losses. Here are 10 things you can do to prevent a data breach from happening and safeguard your important information.
- Make sure all computers are secured by password protection and update passwords frequently. You should also keep multiple levels of passwords in order to access databases that are storing any kind of personal information.
- You should always make sure your important data is stored in an encrypted database. This is the process of converting data, within a database, in plain text format into a suitable algorithm. This may be costly and requires more storage space than unencrypted data, but it offers superior protection.
- You should also always make sure that your firewalls are up and secure. It is important that you have malware detection software active on all servers and workstations. These should be kept up-to-date!
- When you collect information, make sure to keep only what you need by minimizing the places you store personal data and retain only what is necessary.
- Educate your employees on what information is sensitive and what their responsibilities are when it comes to protecting that data. You can do this by providing a written policy about the importance of privacy and the security of data.
- The use of portable media, such as CDs, DVDs, and USB flash drives are more vulnerable to theft. You should only allow encrypted data to these portable storage devices.
- Never use social security numbers or client account numbers as employee identifications.
- All physical records should be locked in a secured location, with restricted access to only the employees who need to obtain personal data. The employees who are accessing this information should be given a background check beforehand.
- Before disposing of any private information, all paper files containing private information should be shredded, all portable media should be destroyed. If you are trying to delete files from your computer, or reformat hard drives, use a software design to permanently wipe the files clear.
- Lastly, call your Yetter Insurance Agent today to apply for data breach insurance coverage.
For a more thorough analysis of your risk exposures and what you can do to help minimize your exposure, talk to your Yetter Insurance Agent. We’ll help make sure you get the best coverage possible. Contact Yetter Insurance today at our Milford office; visit www.yetterins.com or call 570.296-8329.
Sources: Central-Insurance.com, Forbes
