If you think about it, our lives revolve around data, not entirely. You go to the atm to withdraw some cash you need data. When applying for a driver’s license you need data. You want to register a social media account, you need data. The content you’re reading right now started as a group of data put together, analysed, written and then transformed into a blog post. Don’t get it wrong though, information does not always equal data.
Names are data, dates of birth are data, home addresses are data, personal phone numbers are data, passwords, business transactions are data and so on. Therefore, all data out there, including yours, ARE TO BE PROTECTED.
Data Security
There’s data to protect, therefore there is data to take.
Hundreds of businesses out there have millions of data they want to be stored and secured. Privacy and consent are vital when handling data protection, especially in the digital age. Data security starts with data entry. From the beginning, you need to properly and responsibly handle your data. Data should also be accordingly categorised for future reference and distribution.
Here’s a good example. Let’s say an engineering and architectural firm wants all of its engineering graphics, blueprints and drafts stored or archived. With the database in place, all data are now ready for uploading or input. All graphics are to be categorised under either residential or commercial. Management also wants all graphics to be filtered according to the date of production or creation. What was once an empty database, now holds and protects hundreds of valuable information.
Think of that database as your own with data important to you and your business’ daily operation. You’ve been building that database for years and is now an important aspect for you, your employees and your business. What do you think will happen if all those data are taken away?
Data Theft
Data theft is the illegal storage, transfer or sharing of any information or data that are financial, personal and/or confidential in nature. This is possible with different modes like USB, hard drives, memory cards, email, malware attacks and more. Hackers are not the only people you need to be concerned with. Data theft, just like robbery can be an inside job. Without knowing, one of your IT support employees might be remote sharing your data to a rival business. The consequences of data theft can be massive and can even factor to the collapse of your business. Not only that, loss of profit, resources and jobs.
In banking or maybe property management, identity documents or data are hot targets of data theft. What hackers do is they download these documents and sell them to people that will use said documents for illegal activities.
To further this example, wealth manager giant AMP in Australia was recently rocked by a data theft attack in February 2019. A Chinese contractor downloaded confidential identity documents and then transferred everything to his personal email. Upon investigation, authorities discovered that the contractor downloaded a dark web internet browser on his issued laptop.
The consequences go beyond that so that question to ask now is – how can you prevent data theft. First comes to mind will be thorough data management and monitoring. Encryption, system usage restriction, smart emailing and keeping data off the cloud come to mind. There are also a number of security programs or anti-malware software you can turn to.
Data Outsourcing
Another way not only to protect but to better manage your data is with data outsourcing. Build a team to protect your data. Before building the team, make sure to better understand the job roles you want filled. Hire one to build a database, then another one to keep the database safe. After that, a team of data entry. Data outsourcing is a growing market in the outsourcing landscape worldwide. No matter the industry, data outsourcing is beneficial.
It is best to choose a provider that adheres to various data security laws and acts like the General Data Protection Regulation or GDRP in Europe. To give you a hand, one of the best outsourcing destinations, the Philippines implemented the Data Privacy Act of 2012. The National Privacy Commission in the country also rallies behind the data privacy cause.
Start building your data security team today. Why not start with two or three data entry specialists?