Today every professional team knows how important data is. Whether it’s financial spreadsheets, vector graphic files, collaborative documents or presentations, or something else entirely, data is what allows your team to get its work done every day. It makes sense, then, that data governance should be on your team’s radar at every step in the process.
Keeping your team’s data safe and secure doesn’t have to be complicated. We’ve compiled a list of 5 tools and strategies that every professional team can (and should!) use to keep their information safe.
Here’s what’s on the list:
- Back up early, back up often
- Choose a cloud storage platform with remote wipe capabilities
- Stay on top of file and folder access control
- Passwords are still an important part of data security
- Leave no device unattended
Backing up your team’s data to a cloud storage provider’s secure servers is a great way to protect against data loss.
Summarize this article for me pleaseBack up early, back up often
When it comes to keeping your data safe, it’s a crazy world out there. A lot can go wrong. What if your device’s hardware fails and you lose your locally saved files? What if your data is corrupted by a virus? What if your device gets stolen or destroyed? Without a backup of your team’s data, any of these situations could mean that your data is gone for good.
The easiest way to prevent data loss is back your data up to the cloud. When you back data up to the cloud, a copy of your information is created and stored on your cloud storage provider’s secure server.
Obviously, the more often you backup your data, the less information you lose in case of an emergency. How frequently your team needs to back up its data depends on a variety of factors, like the nature of your team’s work.
Summarize this article for me pleaseChoose a cloud storage platform with remote wipe capabilities
If your device is lost or stolen, having an up-to-date backup of your data will help your team keep working without missing a beat. However, what if your device falls into the wrong hands? Any sensitive data your team may have been working with– account numbers, client names, you name it– could potentially be compromised.
Luckily, some cloud storage providers offer remote wipe capabilities as a security precaution. That means that if a device is ever lost or stolen, you can erase the files associated with your cloud storage provider’s app even though you don’t have the device in your hands.
Since your data is backed up to the cloud already, you can still access it from other devices, and you don’t have to worry about the security risk of unauthorized personnel accessing your data.
If you lose track of your device, you never know who may be accessing your data. Remote wipe gives you the power to protect your data no matter what.
Summarize this article for me pleaseStay on top of file and folder access control
Speaking of which, it’s also important to monitor who is accessing your data and what they are doing with it. Most cloud storage providers make working collaboratively– and therefore sharing access to files and folder– easy, which puts you ahead of the game. Secure collaboration tools also grant different levels of permissions depending on team roles.
As a general rule, grant file and folder access only to the people who absolutely need it. Even though it’s unlikely that people from other teams would intentionally do anything that might put your data at risk, limiting file and folder limits the opportunities for accidents to happen.
It’s definitely important to get multiple people working on a project, but it’s also important to keep track of who has access to what data.
Summarize this article for me pleasePasswords are still an important part of data security
It’s data security 101, and yet so many people still don’t make password best practices a habit. With all of the personal and professional accounts we access every day, it can be difficult to remember a unique password for each one, and the thought of changing every one of those unique passwords every 6 months (as most cybersecurity experts recommend) is downright intimidating.
Bonus: Learn How Implement a Cybersecurity Risk Management Framework
But fear not! There are a variety of secure password tools out there that can help you keep everything straight.
Summarize this article for me pleaseLeave no device unattended
If a device is lost or stolen, we are immediately concerned about the security of our data. After all, who knows who might be accessing our data from the device when it’s out of sight?
But what about when you leave the cell phone you use to access work emails lying on the table at the coffee shop when you hop up to grab more creamer? And what about when you walk away from your laptop or desktop computer at work without logging out of your account?
No matter where you are or how quickly you anticipate returning to your device, the best practice for maintaining data security is to either log out before you leave or to take the device with you, if possible.
Also, enable two-factor authentication to make it more difficult for anyone to access your information.
Using these simple data security tools and best practices, your team can go a long way towards keeping your data safe.
Data security is extremely important to today’s professional teams, but adopting data security best practices doesn’t have to be difficult. These 5 tools and strategies are some of our favorite ways to keep any team’s data safe and your team running smoothly. What security precautions does your team take? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
This is a sponsored post for Dropbox. All opinions are my own. Dropbox is not affiliated with nor endorses any other products or services mentioned.
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Melissa Pallotti is a professional writer, computer geek, and hockey fan based in Pittsburgh, PA. You can connect with Melissa on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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