In the modern world, data is like gold. With so much of your business’ worth stored in the online world, you certainly have to make sure that you are doing everything that you can to keep it properly protected. There are several different steps that you can put into practice in this regard, but here we will be focusing on a few of the mistakes that are commonly made in digital asset management. This way, you will put yourself in the best possible position to be able to mitigate these potential issues and not go down the path that so many individuals have.
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Not Enough Email Training
While it may seem like hackers are using a combination of complicated techniques to gain access to your important files in the modern world, it may actually be as simple as them sending out a standard phishing email. Often, it is one of your employees who will open one of these emails and click on a suspicious link, which can help to open the door for potential hackers to gain access to everything. You cannot assume that everyone is highly comfortable with the digital world, so the training should be made on a basis that does not assume any prior knowledge. For example, the simple steps of not opening emails from people who you do not recognize, and the particular importance of not clicking on strange links or attachments.
Poor Password Policy
While there is more and more news at the moment about just how many passwords are compromised in the digital world, you should certainly ensure that the password policy at your own business is made clear and obvious. This means not using the same password for every single piece of software, as well as using a combination of capital letters and symbols. Not only this, but passwords should all be changed on a regular basis to reduce the risk that they are going to get compromised. Of course, trying to keep a handle on all these passwords can prove to be especially tough, which is why it is so important that a proper password manager can be used.
No Digital Asset Management Policy
It is many smaller businesses in particular that simply have no policy in place at all when it comes to their digital assets and the ways of ensuring that they are properly protected. Therefore, you need to make sure that you get all of this down in writing and make all the necessary updates and improvements as and when they become required. At the same time, it is also worth looking up the many advantages of digital asset management software and how this can prove to play a crucial role in the digital side of your company. Also, think about the training that you are going to provide to your employees as a big percentage of breaches occur down to human error rather than a combination of complicated hacking attempts.
Allowing Too Much Access to Files
When you upload all of your files to somewhere like the cloud, this does not mean that you should simply allow every single one of your employees to access all your documents. Instead, you should keep access limited based on who needs to get into what. There are bound to be some files that are especially in need of encryption, and you do not want to be in a situation in which your sensitive information is leaked by your members of staff – whether this is by accident or on purpose. Whenever you have the need to transfer any important files from one place to another, you should certainly rely on data encryption to keep everything protected in the way that it needs to be. There is no point in takin any unnecessary risks when you do not absolutely have to.
Allowing Personal and Business Devices to Mix
When you are asking your members of staff to use their own devices at work, you are opening up a whole can of worms here. This is largely down to the fact that they can start to access some of your important documents and save them on their phones. If there is a time that they are no longer working at the organization, this can easily lead to a situation in which you do not know who has access to your files, which means that they can end up getting shared without your knowledge. For this reason, many companies decide that the best course of action for them is to issue smartphones to be used within a company capacity.
Not Updating Software When Needed
It often seems like you are flooded with software updates that need to be made on a regular basis. However, these do actually serve a useful function. Often, they involve a security enhancement being made. If you do not make it, this can easily lead to a situation in which a preventable security breach occurs. So, you should certainly make it a company policy to make all the necessary security updates whenever they are needed. It is also a good idea to check for them from time to time to ensure that they are not being missed for one reason or another.
Failing to Look for New Software
When you start to become comfortable in your business with the software that you are using, it is all too easy to get into a situation in which you never start to look out for what else is available on the market. However, you may well find that there are systems out there that are better protected and are able to enhance your basic security procedures as well. So, it is always going to be worth keeping a close eye on them.
All of these risks are very real and represent threats that could be made to your company. With this in mind, it is certainly worth making sure that you defend against all of them.
