Data Protection - Solution Finder 016

Why You Need Data Protection

Protecting your valuable data is fundamental to your business success. Failure to protect data assets can result in business failure, financial loss or even personal imprisonment if you breach data protection legislation.

How to Protect Your Valuable Data

1. Implement safe storage of all physical media. External hard disk drives, USB memory sticks, DVDs and CDs are amongst the various forms of physical media commonly used for data storage. It’s essential that these are all stored safely and securely. A "Data Safe" offers the ideal storage environment and is designed to protect against fire, moisture, dust and electro magnetic contamination as well as theft or unauthorised access. A "Fire Safe", or "Burglary Safe" should not be used for data storage purpose as this form of storage doesn’t offer adequate protection. Secure cloud storage is popular these days but this relies on third party provision. For this reason many organisations backup their valuable data both to the cloud and to physical storage devices which are securely stored.
2. Routinely backup all data. It’s essential that all data is routinely backed up so that there is zero chance of data loss.
3. Encrypt all sensitive data. Data encryption scrambles data making it inaccessible without the required software key. Data encryption can offer excellent protection and is a high tech solution much favoured by government departments, major corporate organisations and others.
4. Ensure secure data disposal. Throwing a USB memory stick or DVD in the waste bin is not safe, and in many cases may not even be legal. Data protection legislation is very specific about the need to dispose of data safely. Data protection legislation is very specific about the need to dispose of data safely. Degaussing machines can be used to wipe data from magnetic media prior to disposal and shredding machines are ideal for dealing with paper based records. There are also a number of specialist companies who offer a secure disposal service.
5. Prevent removal of computer hard disk drives. It important to ensure that computers cannot be readily removed from the office environment and importantly, that the hard disks inside the machines are inaccessible. Various techniques can be used to physically secure office equipment such as tethering and secure lockers for portable devices such as laptops and external disk drives. Unauthorised access to data stored on hard disk drives can be achieved using rigorous account security, two-step verification and data encryption.
6. Remain aware of the data protection act. UK data Protection legislation imposes a duty of care on organisations in respect of restricting access to and the use of certain types of data, whilst safe care of company sensitive information is a commercial necessity. It’s important to be fully compliant with the requirements of the data protection act.

Remember that we are here to help. If you have any questions about how to implement data protection in your organisation give us a call on 01273 475500.

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