UK organisations are at risk – data breaches can devastate your business’s health and reputation.
And with the average data breach costs £3.4 million for UK businesses, it’s time to get serious about data protection.
What happens when you suffer a data breach, and how can you reduce your risk?
Read on to explore what a data breach does to your business and the many steps you can take to protect your company’s and client data.
What happens after a data breach?
Did you know businesses not pursuing legal action after a data breach can suffer an extra £140,000 or more in damages? When you suffer a data breach, you can expect the following things to happen:
- You lose the trust of your stakeholders and clients – when you suffer a data breach, your stakeholders’ and clients’ data might become exposed. Following the breach, you can expect to lose clients and encounter difficulties with the acquisition. Trust is a valuable commodity in business, and losing it has terrible consequences.
- You break GDPR compliance – a data breach causes GDPR compliance breakage, for which you might be held accountable. You will need to invest in legal support and face the consequences, which will cost your business money.
- Data loss – you could lose valuable data integral to your company’s processes. Recovering this data or reorganising your infrastructure can cost money, contributing to the financial losses associated with a data breach.
The devastating consequences of a data breach are tough to handle, so it’s best to take preventative action and get insured. In the rest of this post, we’ll discuss how to avoid a data breach with cyber and physical protection.
How to protect yourself from a data breach
Protecting yourself from a data breach requires a holistic approach – think about your policies, and don’t forget to consider the connection between physical and digital security. Read below to get clued up on modern data security measures.
Zero-trust policies
A zero-trust cybersecurity policy is necessary for businesses with remote or hybrid work schemes. Your employees will work on various unsecured networks, making your data vulnerable to interception by third parties.
Zero-trust lowers your risk by ensuring employees only have role-based access permissions. With these permissions, they can access the data they need – but nothing more. This way, you can ensure that only a limited amount of company data will be exposed if a device on your network is compromised.
Just as you shouldn’t trust every device on your network, you shouldn’t trust every person entering your physical office space. Your office space is home to server rooms and rooms holding valuable company assets – where zero-trust physical security comes in.
Without zero-trust physical security, every visitor, interviewee, contractor, and courier can access your most valuable resources simply because they can enter the building.
Instead, with zero-trust physical security, occupants in your building gain only role-based access cards. They can access communal spaces but not the rooms where your valuable data and assets are housed.
You should also consider speaking to a commercial security camera installer to capture any attempts to enter these spaces and address the issue.
Cybersecurity protection
Cybersecurity protection is an essential investment. Ensure your data is protected with the following cybersecurity measures:
- Firewalls – a firewall will help monitor the traffic entering your network, screening it for untrustworthy and unverified sources. This way, you can prevent unauthorised third parties from sneaking into your network and accessing sensitive data.
- Encryption – encryption protects your data if it does become breached, rendering it unreadable to anyone who does not possess the cypher. This way, your data will only ever be helpful to authorised parties.
Cybersecurity training
You should provide your employees with extensive security training. A shocking number of cybersecurity breaches originate in human error (over 80% of incidents). To reduce this gaping vulnerability, issue cybersecurity training covering the following topics:
- Password management – enforce strict training policies regarding password management to secure your network. Your employees should understand the value of setting unique passwords across all their accounts and ensuring they are difficult to guess.
- Software updates – older software updates are riddled with vulnerabilities that are resolved in newer versions. By updating software regularly, your employees can lower your risk. Train your employees to update their software as soon as possible.
A data breach is the enemy of any modern business – and you must do whatever it takes to protect yourself. Are you doing enough to minimise vulnerabilities for your company? Consider the above recommendations and whether implementing proper cyber and physical security will minimise these vulnerabilities.
