Why Data Security is Important for Every Business

Yes, data security essential for every enterprise, irrespective of its size. In this digital world, businesses mostly rely on data storage and transactions to perform certain operations. Usage of data has increased business profitability and efficiency. At the same time, it also has potential security risks that could devastate a company.

Companies are accountable for the safety and confidentiality of its client data and employee information. It is a tedious task that’s becoming increasingly difficult as hackers come up with an advanced mechanism to evade safety and security measures.

The importance of data security

Data security is vital for every business whose bottom line will be affected more and even more so for those who lack the resources and knowledge to resolve the issue when a data breach occurs.

Irrespective of the type of data breach, your company will certainly experience severe consequences such as downtime and expensive legal fees. It’s therefore imperative that companies employ data security mechanisms and procedures to protect your data against threats to protect your brand reputation.

How can I justify investing in data security?

For some businesses, justifying cost and spend is crucial – they need higher level buy-in in order to implement the right safety measures. So how can you justify the cost?

1. Business reputation

The goal of all existing companies it to offer trustful services to their clients.  In return, customers trust your company with sensitive information with every purchase. Whilst, no business intends to harm their clients, an unintentional or accidental data leak could potentially impact your business reputation.

When a security breach happens, there is a lot more than money at stake. Stolen data might put your clients at risk and, as a consequence, the future of your business.

Brand reputation takes years to gain and only minutes to destroy.

2. Automated bot attacks

In recent years, the cyber intrusion process has been automated. And these automated cyberattacks are constantly being initiated without the involvement of hacker. These automated bot attacks divert the attention of the security team in order to gain access to your systems. 

3. Unnecessary expenditures

Businesses are legally responsible for the theft of information such as employee information, financial details and confidential client files. However, some businesses are ignorant about the harmful effects these vulnerabilities can impose upon their company. Hence, they fail to invest adequately in data security and the required security protocols. 

As per a report from Kaspersky Lab, for a small business, a data breach could as much as $46,000 for small businesses and $620,000 for enterprises.  These expenditures include the cost of a fine, disruption of employee workflow and additional costs for necessary steps to restore the safety of your company data and network.

However, this doesn’t mean that the consequences of data loss are just monetary but can also impact the trust and reliability of your company. It will impact the future of your firm and can also jeopardize growth opportunities.

Data security: a case study

Michael Dell, CEO of Dell, has shared a story that really stresses on the need for data security.

The counter-threat unit of Dell was doing a research on new hacking methods that were used by the hackers. While they were doing it, the Dell team came up with some sensitive information from some top firms. They contacted the respective companies to let them know that their data were compromised.

One of the victim company hired dell to resolve the issue. It took nearly 45 days to clear up the issues. During which the company received a satisfactory survey mail from hackers pretending to be an IT company. The Dell team caught it before they could get cheated. The victim company had undergone security attack and being hacked for two years without knowing. Their confidential information had been stolen and stored by the hackers elsewhere.

How can you protect your company against security threats?

Many businesses overestimate their ability to handle data loss when a breach occurs.  For instance, companies believe that they are adequately prepared to put off phishing efforts, but they forget to realize that the majority of data breaches do not occur this way.

Unsecured portals, websites, endpoints, networks and smart devices are vulnerable systems to invade by potential hackers. Hence, it’s important that companies review their safety mechanisms for processing and handling data securely in your IT environment.

Role-based access control (RBAC) is one method that can keep data more secure and allows the company to decide who accesses what type of the data, based on their role in the company.

Additionally, end-point protection software can block employees from accessing unsecured web pages and increasing the risk of a breach.

Antivirus, data backup and recovery software and firewalls are all methods of data protection that companies should not only use but keep up to date in order to protect their data.