There was a 26% increase in data breaches throughout 2022. Cyberattacks present a risk to your business strategy and the trust of your customers. Are you doing enough to ensure IT security compliance for your business? Keep reading as we discuss the top IT security compliance considerations for businesses – ensuring you maintain the trust of your stakeholders, clients, and customers.
What Are The Consequences Of A Data Breach?
Data breaches can have devastating and costly consequences for a business. Here are some of the negative effects you can expect following a data breach:
- Losing trust – you could lose clients and stakeholders if their data is compromised in a cybersecurity breach. This will deplete your revenue, and you must work hard to recover your business.
- Legal fees – breaking GDPR compliance has legal ramifications, and you may suffer losses due to legal fees.
With this in mind, it’s important to invest in cybersecurity protection for your business. You can plan a cybersecurity strategy, or you can invest in managed IT services from a trusted provider like HelpDesk to outsource this responsibility.
Key IT Security Compliance Considerations
What policies and strategies can you implement to ensure IT security compliance? Here’s everything you need to consider.
Zero Trust
With the increased introduction of cloud-based technologies in business, there must be an increased focus on zero trust. When someone accesses your network, this should not give them the authority to access all the resources you host on the cloud. You can implement zero trust to ensure your data isn’t compromised by a network guest or compromised user account. Zero trust ensures users gain role-based permissions to access the resources they require for daily operations – but nothing further. Should their account be compromised, only a limited amount of data will be available (not the entirety of your company’s sensitive data). This strategy is particularly beneficial if you’re implementing a remote or hybrid work scheme, as your employees’ networks cannot be fully trusted.
Password Management
Weak or easily-guessed passwords can lead to data breaches. You can invest in password management software to enforce a robust password policy. A password management solution monitors the strength of your employees’ passwords and provides a secure cloud-based vault to store their passwords (in case they forget). If a password is compromised, the software will create an alert, allowing your employee to change their password and resecure their account immediately.
Firewalls And Encryption
Firewalls and encryption are the foundation of any effective cybersecurity policy. Here are the benefits they each provide for your IT security compliance:
- Firewalls – a firewall monitors all incoming and outgoing traffic on your network to flag untrustworthy sources. This way, you will be less vulnerable to third-party infiltration.
- Encryption – investing in encryption ensures that only those with the cipher can decrypt and read your data. If a third party intercepts your data, it will be unreadable to them without the cipher.
Physical Security Compliance
When considering your cybersecurity strategy, you shouldn’t neglect your physical security. There are valuable digital resources like servers stored in your business facility, which could become vulnerable to a physical security breach. Investing in physical security, such as security cameras and access control, can keep the data stored in your building secure.
Summary
When considering your IT security compliance, you should develop policies and plans that protect your business from internal and external security breaches. You should enforce measures to ensure role-based permissions for your employees while protecting your data from interception by a third party. At HelpDesk Computers, we provide managed IT services to help you outsource your cybersecurity planning. Contact us today for tried-and-tested methods for cybersecurity protection, ensuring your business is secure from all angles.