Protect Against Electronic and Physical Dangers

By Ricardo Harvin

E-mail questions for Tech Tools to rharvin@uschamber.com.

With October being national Cyber Security Awareness Month, it's a good time to reassess your data security practices. Total data security requires that you rigorously defend against cyber attacks as well as physical loss or damage to your computer due to such things as theft, fire, or malicious insider activity.

When discussing computer safety, too often the tendency is to focus on various cyber threats that can be encountered on the Web or in your e-mail inbox. Don't get me wrong-these are very real dangers that can cause real destruction. But simply following good online and e-mail practices isn't enough to keep you safe if you make it easy for anyone to physically get into-or walk off with-your computer. Your data is the lifeblood of your business, and you need to cover all your bases when it comes to keeping the data safe.

Using an anti-virus program, updating all of your software, restricting physical access to your computers, and following a regular backup routine are all simple ways to safeguard your business.

Though most people in today's computing environment expect to easily gain access to information, you need to have standards in place for how and with whom information is shared, and you should carefully restrict access to all sensitive customer and business information.

Mobile computing equipment also requires proper safeguards. You and your employees need to take extreme care with devices such as cell phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and laptop computers. Many recent cases of data loss have been the direct result of physical loss or theft of mobile equipment. Use passwords and data encryption so that even if a computer or other device is lost or stolen, your data is still protected.

When you establish and enforce sound information-handling practices, it helps to keep your employees mindful of protecting the digital bits that drive your success.

To help you learn how to stay safe, the U.S. Chamber has teamed up with Microsoft to offer a series of Get Net Safe events designed to help small businesses establish and follow strong cyber security practices (see E-Sources). But don't forget that you also need a plan to recover from equipment loss or damage caused by thieves or natural disasters (see E-Sources).

Data security is not something to think about just some of the time. Rather, it needs to be built into your daily business routine.

E-Sources

Microsoft Get Net Safe events
Tech Tools, "Disaster Recovery Planning"