Tips on Securing Your Electronic Documents
Remote work, digital communication, electronic forms and electronic documents, in general, have become such a staple in the last couple of years. With that in mind, it is important to ensure you are doing what you can to protect valuable information and secure your electronic documents. To avoid them from being used maliciously.
Since 2020, there have been record-breaking amounts of cyberattacks, and by the end of 2021 was expected to cost the world around $6 trillion, according to Cybercrime Magazine.
In this post Conclude hopes to educate you on how to avoid data breaches, leaks and prepare your business against cyber criminals.
Encrypt Your Data
Encrypting your data and communications is vital. It ensures that the data can only be seen by those who are meant to see them. You can utilise encryption methods where the data is decrypted with the use of passwords or pin codes.
The best thing is to get an SSL/TLS certificate to identify the server identity and ensure an encrypted connection.
Audits
You need to ensure that your electronic document system allows you to view audit trails. This means that you can see who and when someone has accessed, edited or shared any
files. If something does go wrong, you will then have the ability to track the potential source. It will also help auditors see how and where documents are moving through the business.
Security audits are just as important. You need to review your storage systems and keep your systems up to date. Make sure you identify any potential security risks and mitigate outdated software from updated attacks.
Custom Permissions
Another good practice is to set up custom permissions for employees. Having everyone
have access to everything is never a good idea. Even if you feel they are all trustworthy. A simple mistake or negligence can lead to serious problems.
Setting up restricted access or redactions to certain documents, information or data can
save you a lot of headaches in the future. Allow employees to only have access to the
resources they need to do their jobs, and nothing more. This will minimise the risk of
potential leaks and/or breaches.
Manage Data
You need to manage your data appropriately. Saving data to computer hard drives is bad practice. Secured cloud storage or network drive storage is the way to go. They allow for only authorised access, remote access, and already offer encryption protocols to data.
Keep your data and filing system tidy and make sure it stays consistent. This will help to
avoid losing data or documents, and keep you in control of what’s going on.
Lastly, back-up your files and data regularly, to a secondary storage. And remove any
unnecessary data from your storage, particularly if they contain sensitive information – if it’s not needed, destroy it.
Train and Test
Employee negligence or ignorance can render any security protocols you have useless. Train employees thoroughly on every aspect of handling, sharing and storing data. They must also be trained to use and update any software they use, to avoid any mishaps.
Once employees are trained and all your protocols are in place, test. Do internal tests of the software and protocols you have to ensure they are up to standard and have no holes. These tests should be done regularly.
Conclusion
Electronic documents are part of any modern business, and it is important to keep sensitive and valuable information secure. Not only for the benefit of your customers but also for the benefit of your business.
Cyberattacks are on the rise, as more things move to digital format. And Conclude hopes to help you stay ahead of these cybercriminals. Get in touch with Conclude to assist you with
your Digital Transformation and electronic document needs, and we will help you implement the right software and procedures to operate without any worries.