Data protection can reduce the threat of cyber attacks which can affect your business or personal reputation. It is important to know the best practices for safeguarding your sensitive information and follow them. An unauthorized disclosure of private information could result in fines or lawsuits, which could have long-term consequences for you or your company.

Password protection for all devices and files This simple step can help deter hackers from accessing your information. Use strong passwords that are complex combinations of numbers, letters and symbols. Change default passwords supplied by vendors to strong passwords as soon as you can. Use up-to-date anti-virus software and periodically conduct a full security scan of your system and servers.

Do not send sensitive or personally identifying information via email – This includes Social Security numbers, bank account information passwords, passwords etc. Email isn’t secure and could be accessed by unfriendly parties.

Secure your network and data – Make sure you use strong encryption to protect your computers, laptops and portable storage devices. This will help you to transmit information to third parties securely and to protect information on the devices. It’s also essential to have a plan of responding to cyber attacks that includes who to notify and www.steviedavison.net/3-steps-to-making-your-digital-archive-using-automatic-index-numbering-in-virtual-data-room how to respond (e.g. employees customers, credit institutions, and employees).

Ensure you have a backup of all your data – Keep offline copies of the most important data in separate locations from where your primary copies are stored. This will help to prevent attackers from gaining access to your primary copy or delete it.