Mastering data protection: safeguarding your business in the digital age
In today’s fast-paced digital world, information storage is incredibly important. When, where, and how data is stored can often determine day-to-day success—especially since we all expect our files to be accessible, secure, and available on any device, any time we need them.
But what happens if your information suddenly disappears? How would your company survive the loss of critical data? Would you know how to recover important files rapidly?
The answer to each of those questions is more complex than most people think. Many businesses only consider the integrity of their data after it’s too late—when hackers have stolen it, when computers crash, or when somebody realizes that data backups haven’t occurred regularly and remotely.
So how can you protect your data today?
At CMIT Solutions, we start with a basic list of questions that address data security:
• What assets do you currently have? This is the logical starting point to understand any data situation. A trusted IT provider can help you conduct an inventory that identifies the location of and access to the critical information that drives your business. Once that’s done, specific steps can be taken to protect that data and begin assessing any threats or vulnerabilities to it.
• Where are data backups stored, and how easily can they be accessed? Regular, remote, and redundant data backup is important. But simply backing up your data isn’t enough—maintaining easy access to those backups is critical as well. At CMIT Solutions, we securely store our clients’ backups in a variety of physical and cloud-based locations to mitigate the risk of total data loss. In addition, we integrate robust data recovery procedures into all data backup plans, helping companies retrieve their impacted information as efficiently as possible to support a return to day-to-day business operations.
• How would your business be affected if data assets were lost? Unexpected data loss is one of the biggest threats to business success. One widely shared statistic from the U.S. Small Business Administration claims that nearly 60% of small companies that suffer a cyberattack go out of business within six months. Many businesses impacted by a data disaster will discover that they can’t conduct regular business operations without their information, compounding the problem while wreaking havoc on a company’s reputation and revenue.• Do you understand the biggest threats to your business data? Ransomware, data hacks, and phishing scams represent one part of the answer. But cyberthreats bombard today’s businesses from every direction, arriving in malicious emails, infected web ads, fake text messages, and illicit phone calls. Most hackers share one goal—to steal as much valuable information as possible—but the methods they use to achieve that goal are constantly changing.
• Are advanced tools available to wrap your data in an extra layer of protection? Basic hardware monitoring and managed IT services are essential, but considering today’s threat landscape, extra protections are needed. Many companies require around-the-clock cybersecurity monitoring and intrusion detection, often referred to as SOC (Security Operations Center) and SIEM (Security Incident & Event Management). These tools represent a company’s best shot at fending off cyberattacks, monitoring new threats, and protecting your data in real time.
If you aren’t sure about the need for advanced data protection tools or don’t know where your current security plan stands, it’s time to talk to an IT provider.
At CMIT Solutions, we believe in a proactive approach to cybersecurity and data protection. Instead of waiting for the inevitable breach or cyberattack to happen, we work 24/7, 365 to keep our clients and their companies safe. We understand the threat that data loss poses to modern businesses, and we’re here to help. Contact CMIT Solutions today to safeguard your important information.