Hackers don’t discriminate; data breaches can cripple any business, whether it’s a startup or an established company. When sensitive information gets stolen or data becomes corrupted, the fallout can be brutal. We’re talking major financial hits and damages that can’t always be fixed. According to IBM , the average cost of a data breach reached an unprecedented $4.45 million in 2023, with an average of 277 days required to identify and contain the breach.
Small business or giant enterprise – either way, it’s vital to shield your info from hackers and keep it out of the wrong hands. Keep both your data and customers’ personal details secure by following these proven methods.
How to Prevent Data Breaches in Business?
1. Control Access
Access security is a critical aspect of every organization. To avoid big headaches from security gaps, it’s crucial to tightly control who gets into your systems and what actions they can take once they’re in. This is where the Privileged Session Manager (PSM) steps in as a pivotal solution for access management.
A Privileged Session Manager makes handling access much easier, giving you strong control over who can see and do what during important sessions. With a PSM in place, handling access becomes straightforward while enhancing security measures. Your business stays on track with seamless operations protected from unapproved access attempts.
2. Use VPN for Remote Access
Today is the era of remote access, which is associated with the risk of data leakage. It can be quite difficult to ensure that all employees are connecting remotely to your servers only from secure locations. VPN solves this problem, because you just need to activate it and your data will be safe. If double VPN technology is supported, then even in the event of interception, breaking 2x VPN encryption is almost impossible. What is a double VPN? This is going through all the VPN security technologies twice. Even a single layer of AES-256 encryption is extremely difficult to crack today, and the dual technology ensures top-notch security. This also applies to privacy, and protection from detection of real location or data substitution.
3. Multi-Factor Authentication
Just as with passwords, malicious entities that bypass verification can gain direct access to sensitive information and the entire system. Adding an extra layer of protection with Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), which looks at things like where you’re logging in from and what time it is, can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access. With 2FA in place, even simple passwords become less of a vulnerability, ensuring secure access to your critical data.
4. Protect Your Cloud and Data
To craft a more robust cloud security strategy, consider implementing a cloud access security broker (CASB). Think of these services as watchdogs for your online storage—they constantly monitor activity, protect data integrity, oversee operations, and ensure proper governance at all times. With the help of smart tech like machine learning, CASBs watch for odd behaviors and flag any users who shouldn’t be there. Because of this capability, organizations act fast against threats in real-time and protect critical data from being hijacked by cybercriminals. Even in your absence, the CASB will block unauthorized access attempts automatically.
You can’t have good cloud security without being able to see what’s happening at all times. CASBs address visibility challenges by auditing a company’s cloud services, and sanctioning legitimate products while blocking those that pose risks. Encryption scrambles your info while tokenization replaces it with codes; both are key tools used by CASBs to secure data.
More often than not, poorly configured systems and weak security practices are behind the surge in cloud data leaks. These incidents are often overlooked, as they typically involve insiders and the mistaken belief that cloud service providers will handle all security measures. According to the shared responsibility model, it is the user, not the cloud provider, who is accountable for cloud security.
5. Educate Your Employees
Your staff members are vital in safeguarding your organization against cyber threats. Just one employee falling for a phishing email or mistakenly downloading malware can jeopardize your entire operation. Therefore, it’s imperative to educate your team on top cybersecurity practices. This involves instructing them on how to spot suspicious emails and links, establish robust passwords, and identify and report potential cyber threats. You should also teach how to use Firefox free proxy, explain the advantages of the tool, and give you the opportunity to get acquainted with it. It should be remembered that good VPN providers have applications, extensions, and add-ons for almost all devices available in the modern world.
6. Recording Sessions with Dynamic Data Masking
Dynamic Data Masking enables the recording and masking of database administrators’ sessions and their access to sensitive information. Your team can now set up clear security procedures, making it easy to spot and address any suspicious activity without confusion. Adding a Database Access Manager along with Dynamic Data Masking boosts your security and helps you meet regulatory requirements.
Conclusion
Once basic steps have been taken to protect customer data and corporate information, you still won’t be completely safe. However, your risks are greatly reduced, and the chance of surviving a hacker attack with minimal consequences is maximized.
A swift response to inform your customers after a data breach can help manage their concerns and protect their interests. By updating them with specifics on the incident, detailing how you’re addressing it now and offering protection advice later – we reduce future risks effectively together!
