Top 5 Security Threats to Businesses
A business has to be secure in order to operate efficiently and lucratively. No one is going to be confident in conducting business with an establishment if the clientele or the proprietor feels safe in conducting their business. It is a simple rule of good business practice, and yet, keeping a business’ operations secure to build consumer trust is easier said than done. For as long as businesses continue to be sources of income there will less scrupulous individuals who will jeopardize that security in order to make a profit from another’s hard work.
Here are the top five business security risks to watch out for and how to avoid them:
1. Too much Information access – anyone with too much information access can become a threat to the company if they decide to turn against it. To avoid this pitfall, access should be limited with the “least privilege” protocol to accomplish certain tasks or according to job descriptions and stop once that changes.
2. Negligence – negligence, whether by design or accident, is another major source of security risk. The inadvertent loss of vital information from a business or any employee could threaten any company’s operations, particularly with fraud. The best way to protect against this type of risk is to simply be vigilant and follow protocol closely with a lot of emphasis placed on redundancy of security measures to ensure that if one security measure fails, another would take over. Ex. Regularly changing passwords, updating database security, using safe communication and networking protocols, etc.
3. Information Theft – this may be achieved through various means (i.e. dumpster diving for discarded company files, identity theft, hacking, etc.) This can be protected against by investing in a shredding of outdated files, securing computers, access protection and monitoring, restricted access to sensitive information, etc.
4. Social Engineering – this goes hand in hand with identification theft only it’s more subtle because the techniques used gets employees or those related to the company to volunteer vital information willingly through elaborate manipulation, deceit, and coercion. This refers most often to scamming. The best defense against this is to simply check for credentials of anyone asking for any personal or business information before giving it.
5. Third Party Access – this type of security risk is hard to manage because, you might not have full control of the other party’s interaction and access once they are granted it. Since controlling or restricting access to 3rd party business partners and others who may be associated, but not affiliated, with your company is not too feasible, then indentity authentification and access monitoring may be necessary.
For more on securing your business from theft and fraud, there are business security systems consultants in Toronto that may be able to help you.
Here are the top five business security risks to watch out for and how to avoid them:
1. Too much Information access – anyone with too much information access can become a threat to the company if they decide to turn against it. To avoid this pitfall, access should be limited with the “least privilege” protocol to accomplish certain tasks or according to job descriptions and stop once that changes.
2. Negligence – negligence, whether by design or accident, is another major source of security risk. The inadvertent loss of vital information from a business or any employee could threaten any company’s operations, particularly with fraud. The best way to protect against this type of risk is to simply be vigilant and follow protocol closely with a lot of emphasis placed on redundancy of security measures to ensure that if one security measure fails, another would take over. Ex. Regularly changing passwords, updating database security, using safe communication and networking protocols, etc.
3. Information Theft – this may be achieved through various means (i.e. dumpster diving for discarded company files, identity theft, hacking, etc.) This can be protected against by investing in a shredding of outdated files, securing computers, access protection and monitoring, restricted access to sensitive information, etc.
4. Social Engineering – this goes hand in hand with identification theft only it’s more subtle because the techniques used gets employees or those related to the company to volunteer vital information willingly through elaborate manipulation, deceit, and coercion. This refers most often to scamming. The best defense against this is to simply check for credentials of anyone asking for any personal or business information before giving it.
5. Third Party Access – this type of security risk is hard to manage because, you might not have full control of the other party’s interaction and access once they are granted it. Since controlling or restricting access to 3rd party business partners and others who may be associated, but not affiliated, with your company is not too feasible, then indentity authentification and access monitoring may be necessary.
For more on securing your business from theft and fraud, there are business security systems consultants in Toronto that may be able to help you.