The Importance of Secure Data Transfer for Your Business
Your business data is not only valuable to you but it’s also valuable to a whole host of people that you would not want accessing it – from hackers to competitors. Hence why secure data transfer is one of the most important issues for any business today.
Horror stories abound of businesses across the globe being compromised from retail giants like Target, who suffered a data breach of 40 million credit and debit card numbers plus personal data like email addresses and phone numbers of 70 million people last Christmas, to the 8 in 10 small UK firms hacked last year costing on average between £35,000 -£65,000 in damages, according to <a href=”http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/23/breach_survey/”>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ 2013 hacking survey</a>.
The problems even go as far as international espionage with the US Justice Department indicting five Chinese military officers with stealing data from six US companies and unions back in May. Not to mention, last year’sEdward Snowden leaks accusing the US National Security Agency of tapping directly into the servers of internet firms such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to track online communications.
When it comes to securing your data there is no one stop solution but a range of ever-evolving steps and measures you can take to make sure you are well protected.
Choose a secure cloud file sharing product
In-house data transfer is costly to run and maintain;it’s administration heavy and often sits in ageing server estates that are expensive to refresh. Furthermore, it isn’t optimised for sharing data with external parties and rarely addresses the problem of global file sharing.Replace it with a secure, compliant, global service delivered through the cloud, which hands you control of the data entering and leaving your organisation.
Encrypt your data
Encryption at its essence is “the process of encoding messages (or information) in such a way that only authorised parties can read it” and is a must when it comes to protecting data in transit and at rest, and rendering potential intercepts useless. At a minimum, your cloud file sharing vendor should offer multi-protocol support for a host of encrypted secure data transfer methods including HTTPS, FTPS, SFTP (SSH) or PGP encryption and decryption of files.
Put IT in control
With the rise in consumer-based file sharing devices such as DropBox and YouSendIt (now Hightail), IT departments need to gain control over self-provisioned, unsanctioned file sharing services that are putting corporate data at risk in thousands of ‘unknown’ personal accounts. Hand them back the reigns with a secure data transfer platform that is easy to use, roll and manage.
Know where your data is stored
Where data is stored at rest is also a deal breaker when it comes to secure data transfer. Data residency rules protect the movement of data outside of defined jurisdictions. Therefore to retain complete control over your data you need to be aware of where it is being stored and if it is being stored there in compliance with the laws and regulations of the land.
Ensure your file sharing meets data compliance standards
From handling credit card information, to medical records, to personal data of any sort, data compliance is essential to upholding the levels of security required for such sensitive information. For instance, ISO 27001 demonstrates that your vendor takes all aspects of Information Security Management and data security seriously. It simplifies the security and compliance procurement requirements providing confidence through an internationally recognised accreditation. Then there’s PCI-DSS for businesses that accept, transmit or store cardholder data. And the list goes on.
Author: Maytech provides a global cloud file sharing platform for secure and reliant data transfer for 800 organisations in 35 countries spanning 60 industries. To find out more visit their site.