Data has become an extremely valuable commodity in the digital age, with businesses being targeted all the time by hackers looking to steal the data they collect and store. Many cybersecurity experts agree that hackers go for soft targets, so putting adequate barriers and multiple layers of security between them and your data is an excellent practice. Encryption is one of these layers. However, businesses have to do it right so that it provides the level of protection they need. Let’s look at how small businesses can leverage it to protect themselves and their data against data breaches.
Develop Encryption Policies
Encryption policies are the foundation on which you need to build your data encryption protocols. When creating them, you need to consider user authorisations, the level of protection your business and data require, the type of data you will protect, and how encryption fits into your cybersecurity strategy.
Many cybersecurity experts argue that you should develop strategies for encrypting all your data. This includes:
Files stored on the cloud and servers
Data being transmitted
Data stored on desktops and laptops
Primary and secondary backups
Once established, businesses should update their encryption policies to ensure they keep up with the latest developments in cybersecurity.
Identify Security Gaps
Most businesses have IT security gaps, even if they take cybersecurity seriously. They should identify and plug them to protect their data and systems from malicious actors.
Businesses can carry out a gap analysis or work with the International Organization for Standardization to identify them. This organisation awards the ISO 27001 certification to businesses that have met strict requirements for robust IT security management. The organisation will work with your business during the certification process to identify these gaps and help you stay on track as you deal with them.
Secure Your Encryption Keys
Encryption relies on security keys used to decrypt the data as long as a user has the right one. This means anyone with the key can decrypt your data once they syphon it. Proper encryption protocols go hand in hand with proper key management.
It starts with storing the keys as far away from the data as possible. Ideally, this should be a tamper-proof environment. You should also keep separate copies so they can still access their data if they lose them, or they get corrupted.
Lastly, you should rotate your encryption keys regularly, crucially after the keys are lost or compromised. When you rotate them, you should destroy the ones you used in the past even though they no longer work.
Use Robust Authorisation and Authentication
Authentication mechanisms ensure that only authorised users can access your data. Your password is the first layer of authentication, but you should always use two-factor authentication when storing and creating security protocols for important stored data. It provides yet another layer of protection against data breaches and unauthorised access.
Data loss is devastating for businesses that customers trust to keep it safe. Businesses can lose customers and revenues and suffer irreparable reputation damage when breaches happen. While encryption is a great place to start, they should work with cybersecurity experts to use it alongside other security protocols to protect their data behind as many layers as possible.