However, today’s hackers hack for the same reason their peers in traditional thievery steal: to steal money from someone. Sometimes they work alone, often they work in online gangs (or hacker groups or rings), and a growing number of them are backed by governments. Here are eight simple things you can do to protect your business data:

1. Conduct a security audit.

It is critical that you work with a professional to audit your entire IT infrastructure computers, network, and mobile devices to determine what you need to do to prevent hackers from accessing your network.

2. Make staff aware of the important role they play in security.

Your staff is your front line of defense when it comes to security. Sure, hackers can access your network remotely and siphon off data without setting foot in your office. However, vigilant employees can ensure that human error which is a big cause of data security breaches is mineralized.

3. Use strong and multiple passwords.

Too many of us use simple passwords that are easy for hackers to guess. When we have complicated passwords, a simple “dictionary attack” an attack by a hacker using an automated tool that uses a combination of dictionary words and numbers to crack passwords can’t happen. Don’t write passwords down; commit them to memory.

4. Encrypt your data.

Encryption is a great security tool to use in case your data is stolen. For example, if your hard disk is stolen or you lose your USB thumb drive, whoever accesses the data won’t be able to read it if it’s encrypted.

5. Back up.

Security is important, but if your data is not backed up, you WILL LOSE IT. Ensure that your data is properly backed up, and test the backup to ensure that your data can be recovered when you need it.

6. Have security policies.

Its one thing to ask employees to work securely, but you must also have clear and simple policies in place for them to follow to ensure that they are working in a secure environment.

7. Protect your mobile work force.

With the proliferation of the BlackBerry, iPhone, and other mobile devices, more of your staff is working away from the office and away from the protection of your network security. It is important to ensure that their mobile technology, often connected wirelessly, is as secure as possible.

8. Implement a multiple-security-technology solution.

Viruses that corrupt data are not the only security threat. Hackers, and their attacks, are more sophisticated than ever, and it is critical to have multiple layers of security technology on all your different devices (including each desktop, mobile device, file server, mail server) to comprehensively secure your data.

Securing your business’s data is not easy, and it takes expertise. One of the most important things you can do is to educate your employees in security best practices and ensure that they know how important their role is in securing business data.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2014 at 10:00 am and is filed under Windows FTP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.