Do You Have These Common Data Security Vulnerabilities?

Today, modern telecommunication devices are so ubiquitous that no business can afford to be off-grid, yet being plugged into modern technology has potential dangers you need to steer clear of. Most employees aren’t experts in technology, and they may unknowingly engage in practices that put your company at risk.

Let’s take a look at some security vulnerabilities that commonly affect businesses which leave them open to a security breach.

Predictable Passwords

It might be a hassle to create unique passwords with a combination of different cases, letters and numbers — they’re annoying to type and hard to remember.

However, weak passwords are one of the first openings cyber criminals look for when trying to invade your network. Accordingly, getting your employees to only use passwords that are sufficiently complex is an easy but vital way to prevent a major data breach. It might be annoying for them to do in the short term, but using varied and complex passwords can save your business both time and money down the road.

Unprotected Mediums: Email, SMS Messaging

They may be extremely common in both commercial and personal usage, but they’re perhaps surprisingly susceptible to hacking. In one commonly cited figure, an experienced hacker can hack into a Gmail account in only 15 minutes. Once inside, they can get their hands on personal info, banking records, and, worst of all, other passwords.

You need to check out platforms like ChatMail Secure for more information about robust encryption for your company, because the threat posed by hackers, spyware and malware is only becoming more sophisticated. Encrypted smartphones are specifically designed to give you the total security you don’t get from conventional smartphones, while also providing the seamless and integrated communications that drives your business.

Careless Employees

It doesn’t matter if you take sophisticated security measures at your workplace, if employees cause a data breach by being careless. Many major data breaches were caused by employees who unwittingly clicked on a link in an email that turned out to be a phish scam.

It’s important to create an office culture that is pro-actively on the lookout for things like phishing scams and malware, so your employees don’t get taken by traps unawares.

For small businesses, workers may not appreciate that they are the ones who are on the front lines of data breach prevention. Teach them about how to recognize and avoid such threats, because their actions can potentially have devastating consequences for the entire network.

Inside Sabotage

It’s not a pleasant thought to consider that colleagues may actually represent a malicious threat to the company for which they work, but the reality is that it does happen. Sometimes when employees cause a security breach, it’s not an accident; it’s sabotage.

Make sure you control access and permissions tightly, so that only employees you really trust are privy to your company’s most confidential information.

Businesses which get victimized by cyber attacks are often left reeling — they can potentially do untold damage to your finances and even your reputation. To keep your business safe amid modern technological threats, you need to improve your encryption tools, create a culture at work that proactively hunts for security breaches, and strengthen or eliminate the weak points in your cyber security apparatus.