The introduction of GDPR last year has changed many things for businesses and corporate firms in EU. The fines with GDPR are hefty to say the least, and there are always other concerns related to data breaches and security issues, including repute damage. The advantages of digitalization are often talked about, but with that, there are new challenges too. Businesses are constantly gathering data from consumers and contacts, and that’s were something like data protection comes in the picture. The whole approach to data protection is also complicated, because IT environments are complex, with deployment of both on-premise and cloud solutions.
In this post, we are discussing the various practices that can be useful in reducing the risk of data breaches.
- Invest in identity & access management suite. Many corporate firms and companies are now investing in identity & access management suites, which are designed to ensure a proactive stance towards cybercrimes and data breaches. The good news is IAM can be customized and adapted to meet the needs of an organization.
- Evaluating access & training risks. Some of the biggest data breaches and security lapses can be traced to internal resources and people, and therefore, companies have to find a way to evaluate who has access to what. Secondly, the staff and people have to be trained to understand what right IT behavior is all about and should be equipped with tools and resources that help in protecting data.
- Determine all accounts and access rights. Businesses often don’t follow the right protocol when it comes to access rights and determining the role of certain accounts. For instance, every time an employee leaves the organization, it is necessary to ensure that his account and rights are closed.
- Improve documentation. Believe it or not, this is one of the core aspects that companies fail to recognize. When it comes to GDPR compliance, everything has to be on paper and accounted for, and there is no room for any lenience, in case of a breach, because the organization will be held responsible for not maintaining a path for data security & protection.
Final word
Damage control is definitely not the right step when it comes to data security; it must be a means for managing a breach though. Focus on creating a proactive stance, where your company is capable of identifying lapses in security and has taken necessary steps to strengthen data protection.
