data protection

Are you ready and prepared for any attempts at a data breach?

One of the greatest threats that businesses face on a day-to-day basis is a data breach. There can be many causes of this, from a lack of security in-house to external threats such as unauthorised personnel actively seeking confidential information. It’s important to prepare for these threats and create a data protection policy that encompasses all areas of your information security. So how can you be ready in case of any attempts at a data breach?

Storing physical and virtual information

In 2015, data protection company Safenet-inc.com reported that over half of data breaches occurred with the intention of identity theft. Without sufficient measures in place, thieves can get access to financial and confidential data, whether this is in a virtual or physical form. Most businesses will handle some paper-based private information daily, and storing this securely until disposal is essential to protected against a data breach. This threat could be someone in-house who decides to use the information maliciously, or an external breach.

Preparation for compliance

Whatever the source of the threat, it is crucial to protect all customer and employee information in accordance with UK data protection law. Failure to do so can lead to significant legal issues, as well as financial penalties and long-term brand reputation damage. Data can be misused to cause harm to those that the data belongs to, or to steal from them.

Best practice data protection during storage

Within your data protection policy, you can prevent a data breach by following a number of best practice solutions. Firstly, restricting access to sensitive data is key. This can be done by different levels of security such as only managerial staff holding a key to the locked storage units containing sensitive data, or restricting access to rooms where information is held.

Staff training is also an important part of maintaining data security, since you can encourage employees to all regularly place confidential files into the designated receptacles and follow all security procedures accordingly. This will reduce the likelihood of internal data breaches.

Ensure security during disposal

Along with secure storage, you must maintain security during the disposal process and guarantee that all documents are destroyed sufficiently to prevent further data breaches. The most effective way to do this is by shredding your documents on a regular basis. However this can be time consuming, particularly when you have a large volume of documentation.

Partnering with a document destruction company is the best way to save time, offering regular collections at the customer’s convenience. It’s also a great way to make sure that everything is shredded to a standard that is legally compliant. Shred-on-Site’s trained shredding engineers provide a certificate of secure destruction which guarantees the shredding process.

On-site shredding is one of the most effective methods of preventing a data breach, as it leaves information unrecoverable and is carried out by certified professionals. From storage solutions to the shredding itself, Shred-on-Site makes compliance and preparing against data breaches easy.

Find out more about secure shredding to fit your requirements by giving Shred-on-Site a call today on 0800 181 4106.

Author: Mark Coombes - Follow me on Google+

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