Data Privacy Day is the perfect time to make sure that you – and your company’s employees – are practicing data privacy best practices. We’ve put together a list of best practices to keep your data secure:
- Develop a data protection plan, including data protection services and privacy policies, as well as effective data engineering services, so you can understand the terms of use for online devices, data breach plans, and an assessment of your company’s current cybersecurity practices and weaknesses. Read More here.
- Keep software up to date. This might seem obvious, but it’s a surprisingly common pratfall. This includes not only operating system and browser updates, but browser plug-ins such as Flash as well.
- Train employees on data privacy best practices. You can have the most sophisticated data privacy practices and systems implemented, but unless employees are aware of them and follow them, they are of little use.
- Enable multi-factor authentication or other enhanced security measures for remote access and use of virtual private networks (VPNs).
- Avoid Phishing scams. This could be included with employee training, but it deserves its own category. Beware of suspicious emails and phone calls. Spearfishing attempts continue to get more sophisticated with the use of social engineering ploys and e-mails from seemingly trusted contacts.
- Don’t leave devices unattended. Physical security can be just as important as online best practices.
- Don’t reuse passwords. Use complex passwords that have some meaning to you so you can recall them. Password management programs can help.
- Back up your data. If you do suffer a security breach, managed backup solutions are essential to repair the damage, you’ll also need to use a data management service, view this information here and learn more.
These are just some of the best practices that can help you and your company avoid or minimize data theft. At Goldberg Segalla, we have an experienced team to provide planning and assessment of data privacy risks and compliance with rapidly evolving legal requirements. We also have the experience to comprehensively handle any data breach response.
And remember, while today is Data Privacy Day, data privacy best practices should be every day.