Businesses are transitioning from paper to a digital format to manage information more efficiently. However, digitisation has risks, making it necessary to secure confidential business information to prevent data breaches and cyber theft.
The rising concern about cyberattacks has made it crucial to follow safe cybersecurity practices to protect sensitive business records. Otherwise, companies can incur financial and data losses. Document security is essential for businesses to protect confidential information from data theft and loss. It also helps them reduce the risk of data breaches and financial loss.
This article discusses sensitive business records and how to protect them.
What are Sensitive Business Records?
Sensitive business records are mostly confidential data, such as financial, personal, and business transaction information about employees, clients or partners.
- Financial Data: Bank transactions, credit or debit card information and transaction PIN.
- Personal Data: Personally Identifiable Information (PII), client’s or partner’s name and address, employee records, phone numbers, medical or health records and biometrics.
- Business Data: Operations and trade secrets, legal documents, government documents, accounting information and vendor details.
Many businesses value securing these essential records from unauthorised access and malware threats. Access to such data should be minimal, allowing only authorised personnel to handle it.
The best way to handle such information is by following various document security measures to reduce data breaches.
How to Protect Sensitive Business Records?
Stringent document security measures must be in place to protect confidential data. Here are the best ways to ensure the protection of sensitive business records.
- Data Organisation and Classification
Data organisation and classification into various categories make it easier to navigate and assess the information’s security levels, such as high, medium, and low risk.
By assessing the data and providing security levels, you can implement different security measures to safeguard it. Data classification significantly improves overall efficiency and lowers the risk of mishandling.
- Encryption of Data
If businesses handle highly sensitive records, data encryption is a must to protect them from falling into the wrong hands. Data encryption is a safe way to transfer information, allowing data to remain hidden during the transfer process. In case of data loss due to theft, the encrypted data cannot be opened without the decryption key. Any classified documents or sensitive financial information, such as payment details, card details, and transaction PIN, can be encrypted to ensure data security.
- Access Control
Business records must have controlled access, limiting it to only authorised people. This can be done by giving access to the documents to only those who need to know the information. Ensure you regularly review who has access to documents to lower the risk of unauthorised access. Tracking the devices connected to the company’s systems is also essential. This will avoid access to any business information on personal devices.
- Data Masking
Data masking replaces actual data with false information, making it impossible for unauthorised people to use it anywhere without permission. This is the best security protocol for hiding card details, where only the last four digits are visible. This is enough for correct verification, while the rest is hidden. It is also useful for internal use in a company where developers or testers do not need access to sensitive information.
- Implement Security Policies
Clear security policies should be in place to protect business records and ensure compliance. Practising safety measures within the organisation will help staff understand the value of the company’s documents. Conduct staff training sessions to convey document access levels, permission to use data and encryption. You can also set up security protocols to follow in case of data breaches.
- Use a Strong Password and Multifactor Authentication
The most important data security measure is promoting strong passwords for sensitive business records. Many data breach incidents happen due to the lack of uncommon passwords or usernames. While making passwords, encourage using lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters to make them complex. Also, allow frequent password changes using new passwords each time. Multifactor authentication further safeguards the credentials by limiting access and protecting data when transferring it.
- Regular Data Backups
Data backups of important documents will ensure business operations run without problems in case of data loss. This strategy is particularly useful for minimising the damage caused by a corrupted hard drive or malware threats. You can also schedule automated backups of your documents, preventing huge data loss. Data backups are a secure way to recover lost information in case of corrupted drives, systems or software.
- Review Document Security Measures
Conducting regular audits to review all document security measures will ensure their effectiveness and find any loopholes. Similarly, the system log should be reviewed periodically to check access control and any suspicious activity.
Regular audits will help address any concerns immediately and improve security measures. If there is any suspicious activity or data breach, you should inform the concerned parties and take measures accordingly.
- Document Retention
Ensure the implementation of document retention policies to keep only the necessary documents. Have a clear retention policy based on regulatory compliance and the company’s needs. Conduct regular reviews to discard documents no longer required to avoid unauthorised access and data breaches.
- Staff Training
Conduct staff training in sensitive business records, as poor handling can often lead to data loss. Encourage good document security practices to maintain the integrity of the data. Also, they should be trained to take precautions when sharing any information, even within the organisation.
Conclusion
Data breaches are a major concern for businesses that handle sensitive records. Companies can prevent this by staying alert and implementing strict document security measures. Data organisation, encryption, limiting access, and data masking can keep information private and allow secure transfer.
Strong document security policies, password protection, regular backups, audits, and staff training will help manage sensitive records successfully.
