As a business professional, you need to protect your data. Your clients and employees depend on you to keep their sensitive information safe, so data loss prevention is a key element of customer confidence. Luckily, there are ways to be proactive in protecting all your company’s valuable data. Here are four of our favorites:

Archive Files

It feels good to empty your recycle bin. Getting rid of an unneeded document means you’ve checked another project off your list. However, once a file has been permanently deleted, it can be nearly impossible to recover.

Good news. There’s an easy way to avoid the horrible, sinking feeling of being unable to find an important file: archive your documents instead of deleting them. Simply create an archive file on your server and put documents you’d usually send to the recycle bin here. Then, if you find yourself needing that one report from six months ago, it’ll be available for reference or compliance checks or even an account question. Not lost in oblivion.

Back It Up

As wonderful as technology is, it does grow old. You can’t always foresee a hard drive or server dying. Even if you take better care of your hardware than you do of yourself, you can’t always prevent a server’s demise. It can and often will fail without any advance notice.

But you can prevent data loss when your hardware kicks the can. That’s why it’s imperative to keep your sensitive information backed up in multiple places. Following the 3-2-1 backup rule is a good place to start. Have three copies of your data located on two different kinds of storage solutions with one stored offsite. Performing this kind of backup every couple of weeks is a good habit to establish. It also doesn’t hurt to be proactive and replace or upgrade your hard drives every few years.

Secure Your Network

In a world where “50% of small SMBs reported suffering at least one cyber attack in the last year,” it’s essential to make network security a top priority. Ransomware, malware, viruses, trojan horses, and the like are all potential data loss disasters waiting to happen.

As the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. Establishing a rock-solid security strategy is critical in protecting your data from outside intruders looking to steal it. Installing data loss prevention software, establishing user role and policy management, encrypting your data, frequently updating your passwords, and setting up a strong firewall will help prevent your data from being lost, stolen or compromised.

Educate your Employees

Accidents happen. That’s a fact of life. In a hectic and mobile business environment, it’s important to be aware of the risks, learn from other’s mishaps and work together to prevent them from becoming your own.

According to a survey done by Haystax,“74% of organizations feel vulnerable to insider threats,” while “60% of companies felt that a lack of employee training and expertise were obstacles in managing these kinds of threats.”

The solution is simple: adopt protocols proven to reduce insider data leaks and train employees how to correctly follow them. Revisit this training periodically as a refresher, when new threats arise or when procedures change.

Threats to your data come from outside and within. It’s not always possible to avoid them, but these four guidelines will help you become proactive in their prevention. To learn more about protecting your data, contact us. We’d love to show you more ways to safeguard your company’s sensitive information.