In the simplest term, data protection can be defined as the process of protecting or safeguarding data or information from compromise, corruption or a total loss. In today’s world, many organizations depend on available data to make a lot of important business decisions.
According to Douglas Bonderud, Security Intelligence, breaches in data protection have cost businesses $3.8m in revenue and will have a recurring cost to an additional one quarter companies in the near future.
To underscore the importance of data as an asset, Keboola, a data operation company, published some statistics to prove that data-driven organizations outperform others. If you’re in doubt that data is the greatest asset of any company, check some of the uses of data below.
Some Important Uses Of Data
1. To evaluate marketing strategies
It is normal for organizations to adopt multiple marketing strategies and campaigns, but some strategies will be more effective than others. The Pareto Principle is applicable to this situation. According to the principle, only 20% of your efforts will yield 80% of the results.
So, why not divert 80% of your time, efforts, and other resources to the most productive 20% strategies? Companies need data to determine the most productive marketing tactics.
2. To improve customer service
It is essential that a company understands what its customers love about its products/services and what they don’t like. It takes serious analyses of data to get proper feedback. Then, organizations can improve its services by acting on the feedback.
3. To monitor sales trend
It is essential for an organization to monitor its sales figures on a daily basis. That way, if the sales of a particular product begin to drop, the company will quickly launch an investigation and fix the problem. Remember, a problem identified is already half solved.
Importance Of Data Protection
As mentioned above, there are reasons why data protection is important and should always top your priority list:
Enhances your reputation
Proper data protection builds trust and instils confidence to the general public that you’re a business that prioritises security of its stakeholders’ information.
Guards against accidental deletion
It is possible for anyone, you or any of your employees, to mistakenly delete a very important file. While there are many data recovery tools, it is better to create backup copies of important documents. Prevention is always better, easier, cheaper, and smarter than cure.
Helps avoid viruses and malware
This is the biggest threat to the safety of your data because all viruses and malware were developed for malicious purposes. Many of them were introduced into the internet to destroy data or extort money from victims.
You may have heard of ransomware. This category of malware is created to disable your access to your database, and you’ll need to pay a huge ransom before you regain access.
Prevents Unauthorized access
Hackers deliberately try to gain access into different databases for dubious reasons. They usually prioritize anonymity to cover their tracks but as with human nature, they aren’t always successful.
Now that you understand the threats to the safety of your data, here are a few ways to keep your data safe and secure.
Effective Data Protection Methods
Use SSL security:
Protecting in-transit data is as important as preserving data at rest. Oftentimes malicious elements like hackers employ MITM attacks to intercept plain text data and hit the goldmine. If you own a website that involves monetary transactions, you must deploy the right cybersecurity product to ensure safety of the data being exchanged over your website connection. An SSL certificate is the perfect security protocol to keep sniffers at bay. Once you install an SSL cert on your website, HTTPS protocol gets activated which encrypts the data being exchanged between the web browser and the client-server. Wondering where to buy your SSL cert from? It is highly recommended to go for certs from reliable CAs such as Comodo SSL certificate, RapidSSL, DigiCert, GeoTrust SSL, Thawte SSL certificate etc. as they are offering premium SSL at affordable price.
Confirm your safety:
Searching for yourself to see what details come up can help you see how much information about yourself is accessible on the worldwide web.
Using Nuwber, a website which reveals personal details, residence address, criminal records and much more, will be of great help so you can determine how much information you want out there.
Back up:
You need to back up your data. The cloud is a good backup option. If any accident damages your storage devices, you’ll be able to retrieve your data from the cloud.
Destroy, don’t just discard:
Don’t just discard your old storage drives even if they’re damaged. It may be possible to retrieve some of the data in them. Instead, give them to experts to destroy them.
Install software updates at the first prompt:
One of the reasons why applications are updated is to plug security loopholes. You need to fix the vulnerabilities of your system before hackers detect them.
Restrict access to vital files:
You can make it a policy that every file is accessible to only the employees that need it.
Use policies:
Make it a policy for every employee to change their passwords after a certain period. It could be a monthly affair.
Deactivate access where necessary:
Once an employee leaves the company, their login details should be decommissioned immediately.
Benefits Of Data Protection
According to the general data protection regulations (GDPR), you need to seek the consent of your customers before sending their data to a third-party firm. And if a third party gains access to your database and scrapes the information of your customers, you may be liable.
Your data, if analyzed properly, will give you a competitive edge over your competitors. Safe data prevents loss of revenue. You don’t want your rivals to gain access to your winning formula. Of course, your secret strategy will only remain safe if your data is safe.
Conclusion
The protection of any organization’s data is as important as the other aspects of the company’s business. Unfortunately, not every firm fully recovers from a breach of data security. If a corporate giant like Yahoo can be hacked, no organization is really safe.
That’s why you need to be several steps ahead of threats. This article helps you understand what data protection is and why it’s important.
If you haven’t already, now is the best time to protect your data so don’t wait another second.
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