4 Ways To Keep Your Business Secure in 2017

4 Ways to Keep Your Business Secure in 2017

Cloud technology has made it possible for companies to lower their expenses and increase productivity. A lot of businesses, however, still struggle to keep their information and applications secure. If you’re concerned about your business, follow these four ways to improve its cloud security in 2017.

1. Choose Higher Encryption Standards

Encryption makes it possible for you and your customers to transfer sensitive information without giving access to anyone else. At their cores, all encryption tools use algorithms to make data indecipherable. Some tools, however, work much better than others. You can typically expect to get better protection from newly developed tools that use advanced algorithms.

If your business sells software as a service, then you need to make sure it has the highest level of encryption available to your industry. Without excellent encryption, you put your customers in jeopardy. You also put your company’s reputation at risk. It only takes one mistake before customers lose faith in your ability to protect them.

2. Follow FITARA Guidelines

The federal government has created a list of guidelines that can help improve the cloud security. While these guidelines were developed to benefit federal agencies, adopting the standards can improve the cloud security of private companies.

Research shows that about 84 percent of IT professionals believe that the steps outlined in the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) will make federal IT more efficient. With such a high level of optimism, it makes sense for you to follow similar rules.

3. Require Multi-Factor Authentications

Image via Flickr by nSeika

A lot of cloud applications only require users to enter passcodes. Once a person enters the right passcode, he or she has full access to the application’s features.

Unfortunately, a one-step authentication process will not keep out talented hackers who know how to use software and social engineering to guess passcodes. Multi-factor authentications offer a more robust gateway because they require users to enter several pieces of information. Each step that you add makes it harder for unauthorized people to bypass your company’s cloud security.

You have several options when choosing extra factors. Some good options include:

• Asking several questions before allowing access
• Only giving access to specific devices
• Limiting access to people in certain locations
• Using hardware (such as dongles) that transmit security information to apps

4. Limit Access to Employees Who Need It

Every employee working for your company may need some access to cloud-based applications. Few of them, however, need access to sensitive data. Limiting the security clearance of most employees will make it easier for you to keep information private. Instead of giving everyone the same access, you create a handful of profiles that have more privileges than others.

Making different levels of security not only helps prevent security leaks but makes it easier for you to find out who released sensitive information.

Your business needs the cloud to succeed, so you can’t let security concerns limit your technology. As long as you use the latest security standards, you should find that you can keep your company and customers safe.