Data Security

Securing your digital data is required by various privacy laws and consumer protection laws. But ensuring that your data is kept private can also be an important part of ensuring you are protecting your trade secrets.

The main way that you can keep your data secure is by restricting the amount of access that employees have to the data.

By using group policies, username-level authorisations, and passwords on a network, you can minimise the number of employees that can access information that you will want to keep secure.

Another way you can protect your data is by implementing system-level defences. These systems will assist in blocking malware, spam, spyware, attacks on your network, and intrusions.

Implementing system defences can mean introducing virus protection software, firewalls, and security software to your digital systems. Additional layers of security can be added to your system by encrypting data during the process of data storage and transfer.

 Physical Security

In order to dictate the level of physical security that is required for your business, you need to think about your business's physical location, line of business, and the number of employees that work in the building.

Having a security assessment will help with reviewing the property's entry points and security liabilities, so you can gain a new perspective on how much security will be required. 

Examples of physical security measures can include biometric or bar-coded door locks, alarm systems, security personnel, restricted access areas, and video surveillance.

Security measures should be put in place to assist with external threats, but it is vital that potential internal threats are considered too.

Only employees who have been given authorised access should be allowed to enter areas such as the business's storage rooms, financial storage facilities, and server rooms.

 Equipment Security

By physically securing your business's equipment, you can protect your company from acts of theft, and in some situations, it can help with avoiding the loss of proprietary knowledge.

You can physically secure valuable equipment by using techniques and tools such as tight cabling, locks of various sizes, and very careful placement of the equipment.

For some pieces of equipment, key locks might be necessary so that staff can use the equipment when needed. An example of this would be printers that are designated for the use of financial check printing.

 Document Security

Ensuring that you are safely securing your customer information and private corporate documents is required through a variety of different consumer protection and corporate knowledge privacy laws.

Legal concerns are a top priority when it comes to document security. Documents need to be stored in a secure room that can only be accessed by company personnel who can be trusted and who have been given special authorisation. 

Every physical document needs to have an electronic backup that is stored securely by using password encryption. Only in very rare and special circumstances should the documents ever leave the document storage room.

Photocopies and electronic copies should only ever be provided to authorised personnel, and this should be on an as-needed basis.

Any employee who accesses the sensitive documents should be given instructions on the proper handling and storage of the documents.