Your data is a big part of your company. There are a hundred ways to immediately lose all of them and that could get you out of business. Even more so if you’re holding the personal information of your customers. Data protection should be applied to all forms of data.
That’s why I’ll teach you the basics of protecting your data. On top of that, you’ll also learn how to remove adware as it has become rather common nowadays.
Summary
All in all, these are the 5 data protection methods that we’ll be looking at:
1. Use a Security Configuration
2. Use a VPN
3. Keep Data Backup
4. Keep Your Computer Updated
5. Keep Your Employees Informed
Use a Security Configuration
Using a security setup can save you from a lot of trouble. You can do anything from being able to remove redirect virus to prevent your computer from getting infected with Ransomware.
Preventing your computers from getting infected in the first place, is much better than waiting to get infected and trying to remove the malware after the infection.
For an example, if you get infected with Ransomware and you don’t have backups, you’re done for.
For an example, if you get infected with Ransomware and you don’t have backups, you’re done for.
You might be able to remove the Ransomware by using a security program afterward, but your data is gone. Which is why you don’t want to be infected in the first place.
Yes, I know! Security programs for businesses do cost a lot, but they can save you from many unfortunate situations.
So, if you’re expecting your company to stay in business for a while, then you better get a proper security configuration now.
Which Programs Should I Choose for data protection?
The ideal configuration is having one Antivirus and one Anti-Malware program on every computer.That’s because the two of them detect different kinds of threats. Using both will give you a higher level of protection without compromising performance and without causing any interference.
With that being said, avoid using two security programs of the same kind. Like, two Antivirus programs or two Anti-Malware ones.
Do also avoid performing scans with both your Antivirus and Anti-Malware at the same time. You can schedule the scans so that they’ll do it at separate times. Having them both running with real-time protection is fine.
As for which programs to choose, it’s hard to say because security programs change relatively to each other all the time. However,
Use a VPN
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It’s a great method of increasing the whole privacy of the company and keeping private communications private.
A VPN encrypts all incoming and outcoming data and hides your IP address. These features prevent prying eyes from spying on your network activities.
And when I say prying eyes, I don’t simply refer to cybercriminals or other companies, but even the government and your ISP as well.
Attention!
A trustworthy VPN might hide your activities from the government, but if you draw their attention for any reason, then no provider will protect you from them. No one is willing to face jail time for you.
For an example, people who performed criminal activities have been known to be “betrayed” by their VPN providers before. All I’m trying to say is don’t do anything shady with a VPN. Nobody is willing to protect you at their own cost.
Do also keep in mind that by using a VPN you’re just switching your trust from your ISP provider to a VPN provider. In most cases, that’s for the best.
Always Keep Backups
This is another basic step. You can never be too careful. Even with all the security precautions that you have taken, there is still a possibility to lose your data and a backup can save you from a disaster like that.
For an example, it doesn’t always have to be about cybercriminals. A simple power outage can destroy a bunch of drives. In that case, if you don’t have backups, you’ll be forced to spend hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars to restore your lost data.
Having secondary drives or cloud solutions to keep backups is not cheap either, but it’s certainly so much cheaper than paying data experts to handle an unfortunate situation.
How to Properly Keep Backups
The ideal solution is to have your backups secure and disconnected from the computers and the local network. That’s because if an infection or a power outage happens, your data won’t be affected.
The most preferred method is using external HDDs or Cloud Services. And you have two main ways of keeping backups. Doing a whole backup of the OS as it is once and for all or regularly backing up your important documents.
Both of them are useful in their own way. The first method is suitable for those who don’t regularly obtain new data and the second method is suitable for those who regularly obtain new data.
Keep Your Computers Updated
Ensuring that your computers are updated will protect you from zero-day exploits which are highly important.
To give you a small estimate of just how destructive that can be, it’s estimated that the WannaCry Ransomware, which utilized a zero-day exploit, managed to infect more than 200.000 computers.
We certainly don’t want such a thing to happen again. If you don’t keep your computers updated, then you might just be the next victim of a similar attack.
Keep Your Employees Informed about Data Protection
I hope that you learned a thing or two from this article about data protection. Now that you have this information, you might want to share it with your employees.
It only takes a 10-minute speech to inform someone with the basic security precautions that one must take to stay protected.
Keep it short and informative. The basic security steps include:
1. Stay away from suspicious looking websites, links, ads, emails, etc.
2. Keep your computer updated.
3. Make regular backups on an external drive or the cloud.
4. Use your VPN/Activate it on boot.
5. Apply common sense at all times to avoid being scammed.
Other than that, do make your own research every now and then. Keep yourself informed. There are countless security-related articles like this one.
