Online business never slows down, and there is always a new tool, program, or method around the corner that will change the industry yet again. In addition, technology and societal changes push more people towards the Internet, which means more customers for eCommerce businesses to win. Unfortunately, with more people online comes more data, and while more data is fantastic for businesses, it can come at a price. Customer and industry data is invaluable for businesses, but you cannot simply collect data and never pay attention to its use or storage. If you want to continue using the data you have worked hard to collect over time, you must invest in adequately storing and securing the data, or else you risk losing it all.

Why Bother With Protection

Too many businesses think that they are safe from data breaches or other attacks because they are a small business no one will target, but that is false hope. Any business can be valuable in the eyes of a nay do better even if you do not consider your business a notable target. Information, passwords, email addresses, personal information, baking details, and more can be stolen if you do not protect your sensitive and critical data. Even if your data never faces a theft threat, it can be corrupted or ruined. You might not even know that your data is compromised as a virus can work its way through your data without raising alarms. You need protection because an attack or compromise can happen at any time, and you need systems in place to keep your hard work safe. There are many ways you can protect your data from using the methods that work best for your business. Whether you opt for a complete monitoring system like the PI system or hardware off-site backups, there are many ways you can keep your information safe without compromising the business.

Keep A Backup

Even if your primary server and data banks are protected, you should still keep a backup copy of all your critical data. Do not keep your backup on the same computer or network as your primary copy. A backup is only worth it if you take the time to separate it from the live version of your data. You can keep a copy of your data on a hard drive and take it to a second location or make a cloud-based backup service that automatically copies the central data server. Find a method to backup your data and ensure all employees adhere to it, as you will regret not having a backup copy of your data should you ever need it.

Stay Up To Date

If you are worried about a breach or someone accessing your business network, you can give yourself some peace of mind by staying up to date with all software and programs. If anything on your computer or network says an update is available, it is in your best interest to immediately apply the update. Most hacks and breaches happen because people did not stay up to date, and criminals can use exploits in old versions of programs that get fixed with updates.

Only Save What You Need

It may be tempting to collect and hoard as much data as you can as it might be useful later, but this is a bad idea. As you collect more data, you increase the odds of something going wrong and fill up storage space that could be expensive to keep adding. If you do not need data, there is no benefit to storing it for the long-term and can leave you open to issues down the road.

Limit Physical Access

Criminals do not need to use the Internet or a network connection to ruin your data if they can get physical access to the machine storing your information. Anyone can walk up and plug in a USB drive with code to destroy your database, which is why you must physically secure your data as well. Limit who has access to the machines can sign into the data management system and who has permission to edit data to keep the information safe. Even if you can trust all your employees, it is a more secure system if only the necessary people have access. It is far better to be overly safe with your data than sorry when it is all gone later because you didn’t take protection seriously enough.

Safety Practices to Protect Your Business’s Data

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