How to Protect Your Data in 2018

With a growing number of businesses steadily relying on the internet to store important information–cybersecurity has never been more important. Sadly, no guarantee exists for the protection of data against cyber attacking techniques.

However, there are active-measures that can be taken to protect yourself from malevolent attempts. The latest cyber-breach at Equifax inspired many companies to place more attention as to how exactly they plan to protect their data in the coming year.

Here are some of the best practices for data protection and cybersecurity for both small and large enterprises:

The Impact That GDPR Will Have On Enterprises in 2018:

In order to protect consumers from malicious attacks at any establishment, a new set of cybersecurity regulations will be officially released in 2018. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has left many enterprises scrambling to cope with the new laws and regulations. The question many have is how will small-enterprises cope with smaller in-house IT and legal resources?

Cyber Security in 2018:

Preparing For The New GDPR Standard:

With less than eight-months, preparing for the GDPR is a daunting task. In fact, on a global scale, only 38% of firms have stated that they are implementing strategies to prepare for the new standard in cybersecurity.

In order to prepare for the GDPR regulations, businesses will need to scrutinize all of their current procedures. Through a thorough investigation and auditing, you will be able to determine if you are ready for the new GDPR regulations.   

Educate Employees On Best Practices For Cyber Security:

At any establishment, the employees either make or break your daily operations. Now, they are also the forerunners of your cybersecurity. In order to protect your assets – it is important to ensure that your employees are familiar with the latest practices of cybercriminals.

One of the best practices used to train employees is live-testing. Evaluate the employee’s ability to identify phishing emails or common scams. This will also help provide insight into areas that need improvement.

Deploy an SSL Encryption:

As an enterprise, it is important to secure all transactions on your e-commerce platform with an SSL encryption. Through deploying SSL, the risk for sensitive information being transmitted as plain text is mitigated.

It is also considered a good practice to ensure that your website is also secured with an SSL encryption. As this protects consumer information such as personal information, email addresses, and other confidential data.

Backup Company Data and User Information:

Ransomware is just one example of why all companies should invest in a disaster recovery tool to backup files in a secure location. This is considered good practice not only to battle cybercrime but also basic security.

The Difference Between Large and Small Business Cyber Security:

Although cybercriminals tend to focus more on SME’s, the risks of cybercrime is not unlikely in large business enterprises. With the protection of “big data” being a priority in large enterprises–here are some common data protection techniques that can be used in 2018.

Secure Transaction Logs And Data Storage:

Large business enterprises rely heavily on storage management, which is a key to the big data security equation. It is recommended that large business enterprises implement a unique digital identifier for each digital file or document.

A technique referred to as SUNDR (secure untrusted data repository) can be integrated into the data management protocols. This technique is capable of identifying any unauthorized modifications on documents by malicious server agents.

Companies must also secure financial information by investing in electronic payments tools for protection. Using protected, automated payments protect your customers or business partners in a way that free systems or paper transitions will not.

Real-Time Security Monitoring And Compliance Protocols:

A common struggle of large-enterprises is managing compliance protocols. The best way to do this is to implement various real-time analytics and security throughout each security layer. The benefit of doing this includes the ability to log events, implement front-end security systems, and integrate security controls.  

Big Data Cryptography:

The latest innovations in cybersecurity include the bolstering of the age-old mathematical cryptography. Enterprises are encouraged to incorporate searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) protocols to search and filter encrypted data. This will also enable enterprises to run various Boolean queries on encrypted data.

Battle CyberCrime On Every Security Level:

Although cybercrime may be a growing threat to enterprises – all the tools needed to battle it are available. With the implementation of GDPR, all businesses will be forced to place a higher consideration towards their cybersecurity. These techniques are some of the top-recommended enterprise cybersecurity techniques for 2018.