What Is A Data Protection Policy? Can It Be Beneficial?

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Data Protection Policy|What Is A Data Protection Policy? Can It Be Beneficial?Navigating in the digital world is a journey full of learning. Thanks to the numerous digital tools and solutions available today, businesses can achieve their goals faster and more efficiently. However, as a business owner, you must be cautious when using information systems. Along with the advantages of these online solutions are their disadvantages—some of which are data loss and theft. When using these online services and software, your data might be at risk.

Because of potential online and offline security threats to your business, it’s essential to set up your information technology (IT) team dedicated to data privacy and security. By arranging a data protection network inside your company, you can lower your company’s vulnerability to security crises today and in the future.

What makes data privacy and security significant? What could happen if a company isn’t able to protect its data? In this article, you’ll explore how you can level up your business security by establishing a data protection policy. You’ll discover how this policy can benefit your business or organization.

Importance of Data Privacy and Security

A simple click on the internet can leave significant digital footprints about your organization. Since it’s in the business’s nature to negotiate with consumers and investors, companies can obtain personal information from people they transact with. Still, they should keep these pieces of information confidential.

After meeting a stranger for the first time, bet you wouldn’t entrust them with your accurate personal information. You’ll only disclose more information about yourself as you develop more profound connections with people. The same goes for organizations. It’s the company’s responsibility to ensure data privacy by managing how data is collected, used, and stored. Likewise, it needs to establish data security to protect business data from internal and external attackers or any loss that could lead to the company’s downfall.

What Is A Data Protection Policy?

Essentially, a data protection policy defines how your company will protect the confidential, personal data of every individual involved in the organization. Personal data may include any information related to an identifiable person such as:

  • Name, address, and contact information
  • Online identifiers
  • Health information, records, and documents
  • Bank and credit card details
  • Employment information

Data protection policy shouldn’t be interchanged with ‘Privacy Policy’ and ‘Privacy Notice.’ While a privacy policy or notice explains how users’ data will be used, the data protection policy involves guidelines, rules, and principles that notify individuals on their protection coverage according to data protection laws.

Benefits of Implementing A Data Protection Policy

While smaller companies tend to overlook their data protection, it’s them that will be most vulnerable if they don’t recognize its importance immediately. Protecting your organization’s data with the data protection policy should be your top priority, especially during the first few years of your business, as it’ll help you reap these primary benefits:

1. Safeguard Your Company From Online Hackers

Digital threats can come from both inside or outside of your company. As most cyberattacks are unexpected, your organization can stay vigilant 24/7 from potential attackers with the help of a data protection policy. Aside from protecting your company’s data, implementing cybersecurity policies protects your businesses from costly data breaches and cyberattacks.

Employees are most vulnerable to online attacks as they travel from websites to attachments, share passwords, bypass encryption, and other small actions that may put them and the company’s safety at risk. Spreading security awareness among your employees is a crucial aspect of the data protection policy.

2. Offer Peace of Mind To Employees and Customers

As a loyal customer, what would you feel if you’ve recently discovered that one of your trusted brands hasn’t established a strong data protection policy yet? Of course, you’ll feel worried that anyone can easily access your confidential information, and worse, take advantage of it to cause you or other people harm.

Establishing a data protection policy on your company gives your customers and employees peace of mind that their information is always kept secure and private. While there’s an uncertainty that their data can’t be compromised in the future, having a data protection policy prevents or lessens the damage inflicted by any potential data breach.

3. Increase Customer Engagement and Trust

Companies that have had security issues now look less appealing to customers and investors. Sixty-five percent of 4,500 consumers indicated that they wouldn’t transact with businesses with a data breach history. These consumers also feel that only 50% of companies they negotiate with take data privacy and security seriously.

Therefore, if you’re a company with well-established data protection policies and haven’t had any data security issues before, customers are more likely to be involved in your brand offers. This gives you an edge against brand competitors.

Takeaway

In this technological age, businesses and organizations should always prioritize managing their data. While these data are mere combinations of letters, numbers, and figures, they hold an unparalleled value to your company. Entrepreneurs should understand that data integrity isn’t a burden to their plate and acknowledge it as an important element to drive business growth and success.

Worried About Safety? Make Armed Security Your Priority

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Armed Security|Worried About Safety? Make Armed Security Your PriorityIt is natural for humans to worry about people and things they love. It can be your business, employees, customers, and of course, your own life. But sadly, it’s not possible to protect all of these on your own. You need to take the help of someone.

But, who can you trust to protect your most prized possessions? Well, the accurate answer would be ‘professional security, particularly armed security.’

Armed security guards are best for protecting you and your business from all kinds of threats and dangers. They are an incredible deterrent to criminals. Besides, they also offer you a sense of security and peace of mind, which is essential in the hectic work environment. Impressive right?

However, you’ll be shocked to know that many people hesitate to hire security guards. The reason being that they are not sure if their business needs ‘armed security.’ Are you also worried about the same? If yes, then keep reading to find out.

Type of business that needs armed security

  • Health care: On an everyday basis, numerous people visit hospitals, clinics, and medical stores. Therefore they must pay attention to the security of every person. And, armed security guards are the best for this job.
  • Retail: Needless to say that the security guards will help the retailers in keeping an eye on the fraudsters and employees for any suspicious activity.
  • Schools: The protection of students and teachers is of utmost importance, and only armed security can do it well.
  • Politician: Politicians work on making the future of the country. That is why you need armed security for politicians to protect the nation ultimately.
  • Banks and financial institutions: Anything related to money undoubtedly needs protection. They can monitor security electronics and workplace violence protection.

In addition to these, other businesses can also use armed security services for the overall protection from threats.

Benefits of armed security

Now that you know which businesses generally need armed security let’s understand why one must focus on hiring armed security guards.

More trained: As armed guards have weapons with them for your protection, they are more trained than unarmed guards. Besides, they have to pass all the state tests and standards before they are allowed to use them.

Employed after the background check: Think about it: you can’t give weapons to the people who have the potential to harm you. Simply put, security guards need permits for using weapons. They have to go through a proper background check and fulfill other legal requirements to complete the licensing process.

In a few scenarios, they have to do biometric verification or investigation from the FBI.

High-end protection: The presence of security guards will become a barrier to lawbreakers. There will be a significant decline in criminal activity inside or nearby the business premises. Armed security will provide high-end protection to the employees, customers as well as clients.

To Sum Up,

With the rising crime and fraudulent activities globally, it is now crucial to safeguard your business more than ever. By hiring armed security guards, you can leave the protection of your business in their responsible and trustable hands.

Overall we can say that- Armed security has got you all covered.

Four Tips for Creating Your Team’s Rescue Plan

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Rescue Plan|Four Tips for Creating Your Team’s Rescue PlanIf you have been given the ultimate task of creating new or developing existing rescue plans, this article is for you. Whether you’ll be the one supervising the site and rescue plan if it’s required, you’ll need to find some innovative ideas to keep your team safe and happy. Having a coherent and appropriate rescue plan will allow your team to have the utmost confidence in you whilst doing their job.

Rescue plans can truly be the crux between life and death, so it is, therefore your responsibility to ensure your plan is kept up to date with plentiful information. It is also your obligation to formulate the plan alongside the guidelines within your state and remember that you cannot simply rely on emergency services when you’re in a time crunch. Here are four ways you could maximise the efficiency and coherency of your rescue plan with thorough preparation.

Safe Equipment

While creating the rescue plan, you must consider the potential hazards of your site and make sure that all safety equipment is safe and ready for use. Safety equipment should be suitable for the job, and there should be enough for everyone on site. It is crucial to ensure that all employees working on site have full access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), so everyone has the same opportunity at staying safe on the job. Even if the site may not contain potentially hazardous conditions, if you have to create a rescue plan, PPE is definitely required. All workers should be fully visible in all conditions and therefore require some form of high visibility clothing. They should all have correctly fitting hard hats alongside suitable eye, hand and foot protection. All of these points might seem like gospel, but they are essential at all times on site. So, a reminder doesn’t hurt.

Work Tents

As important as PPE, other forms of site protection should include work tents. It’s important to consider the weather conditions on-site when working, but you should also always plan for the unexpected. Work tents are a great form of emergency protection, acting as a quick fix when required. They can shield from a storm and also act as a method of shade for heat relief. If your rescue team have to maintain focus for long periods, bad or even dangerous weather conditions can fuel the initial problem and make it more difficult to conduct the rescue mission in turn. There are plenty of work tents to choose from, including variability in size, shape and colour. Find a provider that offers a wide range of products, so that you can explore a selection, such as Pelsue. The firm has a range of work tents, and you can explore Pelsue’s products here. Work tents have a multi-purpose function which allows you to join tents both together and to cars by having interlocking flaps. Most tents also have a pop-up feature which is useful when in a rush. As you can tell, innovative tents are essential for a rescue plan.

Prepare a Rescue Team

The core feature of your rescue plan should be a rescue team. Make sure each person in the team know exactly what their role is and when their service might be required in a rescue mission. It’s also important to make them aware of where they can access the potential items required to conduct the rescue appropriately and efficiently. Experts suggest that your rescue team should consist of people who can keep calm under pressure and who are confident enough to continue with the rescue mission if required. You should also ensure that there is a competent and approachable person with effective first aid and rescue material experience. This way, that if a rescue mission is required, everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Keep Everyone in the Loop

It is essential that you let the rest of the team observe these rescue drills. A word of warning about the potential hazards before each working day will prevent high stress among the team. Make them aware of potential hazards on site for peace of mind. While giving them this awareness, allow all team members to ask questions so a full brief is conducted. This will help increase their awareness on-site and become familiar with any potential rescue plans. If the team are in the loop and aware of any potential mistakes and mishaps that can occur, each individual is more likely to know what to do if a rescue mission takes place.

Final Word

It is now up to you to create your rescue plan as efficiently as possible. Make sure you have a rescue team and staff who have a constant awareness of potential hazards. Ensure that you brief team leaders and supervisors about your concerns. It may seem like general knowledge, but make sure that your team have good PPE as well as work tents ready for use on-site.

5 simple measures you can take to improve your company’s security

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Company Security| 5 simple measures you can take to improve your company's securityIn our online-entrenched age, and especially as the world continues to wait out the COVID-19 pandemic, it bodes well for your business that it can access a wide range of markets – both familiar and untapped – from practically anywhere.

However, your company’s use of digital tools can open up a range of security holes; indeed, theft of digital information is now the most commonly reported fraud, says the Federal Communications Commission. So, how can you counter that risk?

Educate your employees in security matters

Your company isn’t just a static business entity – it is essentially its employees, and you could have a rather fast-whirring conveyor belt of those. That’s why the onboarding process for new recruits should include training them in an array of measures aimed at helping to secure your business.

As a Forbes article suggests, you should give your business its own cybersecurity policy that details best practices for protecting employee, vendor and customer information – practices like the following…

Keep all of your corporate security software up to date

Even if you have taken over an existing business and, with it, inherited a strong security framework, you shouldn’t be complacent – especially given that all of the firm’s security software must be kept updated.

That software includes not only anti-malware software and firewalls but also the web browsers and operating systems your workers routinely use. You should keep an eye out for when key software updates arrive so that you can always install them as soon as possible.

Employ best practices on payment cards

If you think that using the same computers to both visit websites and process payments seems like a disaster waiting to happen, well, you could be right. That’s why it wouldn’t be well-advised practice – and why you ought to isolate your payment systems from other software that falls short of the same security standards.

You might find that the bank or other financial institution through which your firm processes payments requires you to, as part of agreements you have signed with it, meet certain security obligations anyway.

Be careful which workers you authorize to use which software

While your business might have many different software tools at its disposal, this doesn’t mean that all of your employees should be permitted blanket access to all of them. As a security precaution, you should make sure each employee is handed access only to those specific apps and data systems they truly need.

You could ensure this by implementing a system like Wandera’s private access solution, which would not require you to add any new hardware or install any new certificates.

Regularly back up vital business data

This data – such as word-processing documents, financial files, electronic spreadsheets and human resources files – should be kept as backups in various places. For example, you could keep secure, password-protected backups on your desktop, offsite and in the cloud.

If possible, back data up automatically – or at least weekly if undertaking backups on a manual basis would be the only real option for your business.

How to Make Your Small Business More Secure

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | How to Make Your Small Business More SecureIf you own or run a small business, one of the most dangerous mistakes that you can make is assuming that your business will not become a security target because of its size. But the truth is that size doesn’t matter when it comes to criminal attacks, particularly online. In fact, small businesses are often easier targets for cybercriminals and hackers since they often underestimate the importance of cybersecurity or do not have the same resources as the larger corporations. It’s important to understand the threats that your business is vulnerable to, particularly online, and to have a strong strategy to reduce them.

Outsource to a Professional IT Company

Your small business might not have the budget to hire a team of in-house IT employees, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting the support that you need. Outsourcing to a professional IT support company is the best option to ensure that your small business has the security resources and IT professionals necessary to ensure that threats are kept to a minimum and that your data is kept secure. If you are looking for London IT support, Totality Services is an IT support company in London offering professional services to small businesses looking to streamline IT processes and improve security. One of the best IT companies in London, Totality Services are a Microsoft Partner offering round-the-clock IT support for your business. Learn more at totalityservices.co.uk.

Have a Strong Password Policy

More often than not it is very simple mistakes and human error that can lead to some of the worst data breaches. And one of the easiest ways for hackers and cybercriminals to get into your systems is by guessing passwords. It’s important to ensure that all employees are fully trained and educated on the importance of having a strong password policy and why practices such as sharing passwords, using easily guessable passwords, using the same passwords for different login credentials and writing passwords down are not acceptable. A good password manager tool for all employees to use is a great investment in the security of your business.

Look Out for Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks, in which a cybercriminal or hacker attempts to deceive somebody into giving away personal or sensitive information, are on the rise. And they are often used to try and get access to company data or employee login credentials. A phishing attack could come in the form of an email that appears to be from the business bank, for example, or from a senior member of staff. They are often seemingly innocent and can easily be fallen for. Be sure that all employees are trained on how to spot potential phishing attacks and have strong policies in place when it comes to the steps that need to be taken after an employee receives an email or another form of communication that is requesting sensitive information. All communications should be verified before any information is shared with the sender.

Shred Documents Before Disposing of Them

Many companies focus heavily on cybersecurity but fail to realise the other security risks that they might face. Documents, for example, can often contain sensitive information about your company, employees, or customers and every step should be taken to ensure that they do not end up in the wrong hands. Any invoices, printed communications, and quotes should be completely shredded before they are disposed of. You may even want to take disposing of shredded sensitive documents even further in terms of security by disposing of them in parts so that they cannot be put back together.

Deter Physical Break-Ins

Physical break-ins can be just as devastating to your company as cyberattacks, particularly if you have any securely stored physical data on-site. Make sure that your business is GDPR compliant by ensuring that no customer or employee information is left out where it could be accessed easily should anybody break into the business premises. Deter thieves and would-be burglars by installing video surveillance equipment and having a strong security alarm system at your business property.

Secure Data in the Cloud

Storing data in the cloud rather than in physical storage or on physical devices is not only more modem and easier for most small businesses, but it also makes it much harder for this data to be stolen. Data that is stored on a hard drive, for example, can be compromised if the hard drive itself is stolen or damaged. However, cloud-based storage that is fully encrypted and protected with strong login credentials is far more difficult to access. Tighten security even further by only allowing a select few, trusted people access to any data stored in the cloud.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your business is too small to be the victim of a cyber-attack. With attacks on small businesses on the rise, there’s never been a more crucial time to step up your security measures.