Over the past year, 4,149 data breaches compromised more than 4.2 billion records, shattering the previous all-time high of about 1 billion exposed records. This assessment comes from the 2016 Year End Data Breach QuickView Report.

Too many companies are failing to implement basic data IT security controls

Its extremely important that companies follow the basic data security needs. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that there remains a disconnect between the realities of the breach threat and the practicalities of defending against it. Businesses must understand the risks, and how to best protect themselves and their clients against a potential breach.

At the end of the day a Ransomware outbreak or data breach will strain the relationship between you and your clients, so you need to focus on delivering consistent, quality service and limiting the possibility of a breach.

Here are five things you definitely need to think about when it comes to IT Data Security:

  1. Always make sure your data is stored properly in an encrypted database.
  2. Develop an organization-wide data security plan
  3. Remove unnecessary data from your electronic devices and keep tabs on what data remains.
  4. Hire professionals to completely clear all electronics of unnecessary sensitive data.
  5. When upgrading or disposing of devices with sensitive data, contact a professional for physical destruction of the data-containing component of the device. Deleting files from your hard drive isn’t enough. Data can still be recovered if not correctly destroyed.

Furthermore, dealing with breaches will never be an easy task and that’s why you must protect yourself before they become an issue. Understand what data can be compromised and how. Search the internet for tips, documents and case studies. If you still feel like your business is “at-risk” call the managed IT professionals, SecurityRI.com.

Also, we can assess your network at no charge. If you need additional information regarding why to outsource your IT department, please check out our white paper on improving your security technology today.