How Modern Companies Protect Their Data

How do today’s corporations and small businesses deal with potential breaches of security by threat actors, hackers, and other bad intentioned people? Fortunately, most companies can stay one or two steps ahead by taking a proactive stance and using as many modern tech tools as possible. Another advantage of being informed and always on the lookout for a security problem is that prevention costs much less than after-the-fact solutions. That principle is true in many business situations but particularly so in the field of data safety.

Entities of all sizes are discovering the value of cold storage or offline inventories for sensitive information and files. Others, like commercial transport fleets, use wireless dash cams to produce in-house stores of relevant backup images. Hard-copy archiving is another proactive approach in which owners revert to old-school methods to achieve high levels of protection. Additional tactics include hiring IT security consultants, the use of intranet networks, and heavy encryption of messages and other communications.

Cold Digital Storage

One lesson regarding protecting data from snoopers and hackers that enterprise security enthusiasts learned from consumers is that a back to basics strategy can make sense for larger corporations too. Owners who have particularly valuable or proprietary files that need extra protection are turning to a simple solution: daily hardware backup for all relevant digital information. The beauty of the approach, especially for smaller entities, is that cost is minimal, and it takes no special technical knowledge to perform the task. The process involves moving entire documents and files onto a non-internet-connected machine or a high-capacity thumb drive. Cold storage gained widespread popularity among cryptocurrency owners who grew increasingly suspicious of online platforms and digital banks that sometimes-lost assets due to hack attacks. No one can hack or steal what’s on a non-connected hard drive or thumb drive.

Smart Tech for Commercial Fleets

Fleet managers need to be careful about their company’s proprietary systems, methods, and other processes. They prefer to use technology that is safe from outside hacking attempts. That’s just one reason supervisors who operate vehicle fleets use wireless dash cams. Not only do the units offer voluminous storage capacity, but they also give managers fast, secure access to recorded camera footage whenever they need it. If you oversee a commercial fleet of any size, be sure to review a how-to article that explains all the relevant differences between dash cams, especially wireless and wired ones. Additionally, you can learn how to choose the most reliable and efficient wireless dash cams for your company’s vehicle fleet.

Hard-Copy Archives

Even in the digital age, there are numerous large corporations and smaller entities that maintain hard-copy, paper archives of their primary databases. For small organizations, the task is not so formidable. But for other companies, the practice is becoming more of a problem, especially as data caches continue to grow with each passing year. While not a popular security tactic, hard-copy archiving is still alive and well.

IT Security Consultants

Organizations that can afford to outsource the bulk of the digital security effort turn to IT consultants who specialize in all forms of protection. In some cases, owners choose to keep a portion of the chore in-house and send the rest to a third-party provider. In the past decade, the IT consulting sector has grown quickly, now encompassing clients of all sizes and in every conceivable commercial niche. Some consultants are independent, but most who offer services are formed as partnerships or stand-alone agencies.

Intranets

In-house networks, called intranets, are one of the frontline choices for companies that want the most convenient solution for keeping databases and communications private and safe. However, intranets are still susceptible to both internal security threats and outside ones, just not as much as standard internet arrangements are.

Encryption

Encrypting all company-related communications is one of the frontline defense tactics for today’s for-profit entities. Encryption is inexpensive, easy to do, and fast. While it does not directly address hacking or theft concerns, thieves have less of an incentive to target fully encrypted caches because they have nothing to gain. Plus, there are dozens of low-cost solutions, apps, and software products that allow solo owners and large organizations to automatically encrypt all emails and other communications. Additionally, users can apply the technology to massive databases and virtually any kind of e-file that holds information. Indeed, many organizations have rules against storing digital data that is not encrypted.