There\u2019s no such thing as a business that doesn\u2019t have sensitive data. Even a small retail company has documents with employees\u2019 personal details that legally must remain confidential, for example. Bank documents would be hard to restore. Supplier and contractor contracts could include trade secrets.<\/p>\n
To protect important data from loss or inappropriate disclosure, follow these seven tips.<\/p>\n
On devices where confidential data is stored or transmitted (i.e., most of them), be sure to enable full disk encryption (FDE). Encryption protects the data in case the device falls into the wrong hands. In Windows, the FDE tool is called BitLocker. The macOS equivalent is FileVault. FDE is enabled by default on most iOS and Android phones; don\u2019t disable it unless absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n
Another way important data can fall into the wrong hands is through the loss (or theft) of physical media: external hard disks or flash drives. Ideally, they should never leave the office. In fact, if you must write to an external medium, you should encrypt the data beforehand. For example, many security solutions for small businesses<\/a> support encrypted storage in the form of cryptocontainers.<\/p>\n Sometimes you might need to send confidential data online, by e-mail or a file-sharing service. We strongly recommend avoiding it whenever possible, but if you absolutely have to send information, at least encrypt it first, in case of interception. The easiest way is to create a password-protected archive. Almost all archive utilities have this option. After you encrypt the information, send the password to the recipient through a different channel \u2014 for example, attach the information to an e-mail, but send the password through a messaging app that supports end-to-end encryption<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even information that\u2019s fallen out of use can still cause problems, so get rid of it. For less-sensitive information, at the very least, delete it and then empty your Recycle Bin so the data can\u2019t be restored with a simple click. For anything even vaguely sensitive, use a file-shredder utility to prevent recovery.<\/p>\n Backups are crucial, but they can also be a source of leaks. That\u2019s why, before creating backups of confidential data, you should place them in a cryptocontainer.<\/p>\n3. Don\u2019t transfer unencrypted data over the Internet<\/h2>\n
4. Delete sensitive data you no longer need<\/h2>\n
5. Encrypt backups<\/h2>\n
6. Store more than one copy<\/h2>\n