Tips to prevent information leaks in your company 2015

Information leaks today are one of the main causes of companies losing money and their reputation. In 2014 no less han 70% of SMBs suffered data leaks caused either accidentally or by one of their workers.

Information leaks are already a fact that we read about daily in newspapers around the world. It is no longer just leaks within enterprises but individual information that people are worried about losing.

Large companies like Sony went through this last year and analysts estimated that the security glitch they had caused them a loss of more than 1,010 million euros. In this attack at least 25 million user accounts from various countries were exposed.
Why is this happening?

Causes of information leaks in enterprises

Information Leaks

Recommendations

If you don’t want to be one of these companies we offer you a few recommendations to follow in order to avoid data leaks.

– First, it is essential to know what confidential documents you have that are managed inside as well as outside of your company and to know who is accessing it.

– Check which devices are being used in your company to access this information and that they have the needed security software installed to prevent a computer attack.

– If you use the Cloud based storage always use a security tool compliant with that service.

– If an employee or consultant stops working for the company make sure you control which documents they take with them and ensure they no longer can access confidential data.

– Use technology tools to avoid possible leakage of data, such as a good antivirus like Kaspersky or Mcafee. Also use IRM and next-generation Data Loss prevention software to control your information and to decide and track at all times who accesses the documents, one such as Prot-On.

– Ensure workers are made aware and train them on the importance of keeping corporate data protected.

– Use strong passwords and change them regularly.

Take note that most information leaks are caused by theft of mobile devices, theft of information by former workers or former collaborators, a lack of awareness on the part of employees who share confidential information without security measures, and that poor management of your information can cause serious damage to the organization.

Data Protection

Imagine a small medical clinic, it is not unreasonable to think that medical records and other patient data are stored in excel files on work computers that are used on a daily basis and are not under lock and key nor do they have appropriate security measures.

This is already a breach of the data protection laws that, because we are dealing with files which require a high level of security, entail very high penalties in case of an audit by the Data Protection Agency.

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