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A business’s success depends on many factors, including the ability to keep customer data safe and secure.
A company must have a robust IT security system in place. Without Secure IT Services, a business is at risk of losing confidential information, being hacked or suffering an outage of IT systems.
In this article, we will discuss the importance of Secure IT Services and what can happen if they are not implemented. We will describe some important aspects of IT security and discuss how Starboard IT can provide you with the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have professional, proven IT security services.
What are Secure IT Services and why are they important?
IT system security is essential for any business, large or small. It can provide a number of important benefits, including security, compliance, and efficiency. In today’s world, it is more important than ever to have a secure IT system in place. Here are just a few of the reasons why:
Data
IT data is often all of the information held by a business. Customer and employee details, daily transactions and financial records. If you are unable to access this data, you will probably cease trading!
A professional IT security service will protect your valuable data and specially-written software with encryption and access controls. They will also duplicate your data and software using backups.
IT systems and infrastructure
Your servers, data storage and IT network are all vulnerable to malicious activity, employee error or hardware failure. Your IT security service provider will use software to monitor your systems, identifying threats and faults and, normally resolving them before they become an issue.
What can go wrong?
Some organisations may view the cost of IT security as an overhead. Smart company directors and management see it as being prepared. Some of the risks you face with no IT security services include:
Losing Confidential Information
One of the biggest dangers of not having a secure IT system is the risk of losing confidential information. This information can include customer data, financial data, or even trade secrets. If this information falls into the wrong hands, it can be used to damage the business or even steal from customers.
Being Hacked
Another major risk of not having a secure IT system is being hacked. A hacker can gain access to your systems and steal sensitive data or even damage your network. This can be costly and damaging to a business, both financially and reputationally.
Reputation
Businesses that don’t have Secure IT Services in place are at a disadvantage because they are more likely to experience system failures, data breaches, and other cyber-attacks. This can lead to a loss of trust from customers and partners, as well as negative publicity.
Poor System Performance
An unprotected IT system can suffer performance issues.
This can be caused by viruses, malware, and other online threats that can slow down or even disable systems. By using Secure IT services, you can protect your systems from these threats and keep them running smoothly.
Non-productive time
If your business suffers an IT outage, for any reason, your company will be non-productive until the systems are restored. Your employees will be unable to work and your customers will be unable to access your online business and may go to a competitor.
Many companies that suffer a significant IT systems outage go out of business.
What IT security services does my business need?
– Data encryption
Data encryption changes data into an encrypted, unreadable format while it is stored. This helps protect the data from being accessed and used by unauthorised users. Data encryption is used in various industries, including healthcare, finance, and government.
– Firewalls
A firewall is software installed onto your network to monitor and control network traffic and access to various websites. Firewalls are used to protect networks from unauthorised access and prevent malicious software from spreading.
– Virus protection
Virus protection is a process of identifying, preventing and removing viruses from computers and networks. Viruses can cause damage to systems, including data loss and performance issues. Antivirus software is essential for keeping systems safe from malware and other online threats.
– Malware removal
Malware is a type of software that is designed to harm or disrupt computer systems. Malware can be used to steal information, damage files, or even take control of a system. Malware removal is the process of identifying and removing malware from a system.
– Secure email
Secure email is a process of encrypting and protecting email messages from unauthorised access. Secure email is used to protect sensitive information, such as financial data or confidential business communications.
– Secure web browsing
Secure web browsing is a process of ensuring that data transmitted between a web browser and a website is protected from eavesdropping. Secure web browsing is used to protect confidential information, such as passwords or credit card numbers.
Your customers will expect you to have a secure online presence and will look out for ‘HTTPS’ and the padlock symbol when they access your website.
– Multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication is an additional layer of security that requires users to provide two pieces of evidence to verify their identity. This can involve confirming an online activity using your email or ‘phone, as well as logging on to a website.
Multi-factor authentication can be used for logging into systems, making online purchases, or accessing sensitive information.
– Access control and secure passwords
In order to protect systems and data, businesses need to implement access control measures. Access control allocates userids to authorised users of a system, to help prevent unauthorised access.
Other access control measures include things like multi-factor authentication and secure passwords. Secure passwords are long, complex, and difficult to guess.
– Mobile Devices
Your employees most likely access your IT systems from home, the cafe or on their commute to work. This is great for productivity, but they should be encouraged to have a lock on any of their personal devices used to access work IT systems.
This merely involves having controlled access to their personal laptop, tablet or ‘phone. They can easily add a code or fingerprint or face recognition to help prevent unauthorised access to your systems.
– Employee training
Your IT security service provider will train your employees to recognise risks, such as phishing emails, and how to deal with security risks. Training may involve classroom sessions, documentation or online guidance.
What can I do if my IT systems go offline?
Murphy’s law states “if things can go wrong, they will”. This is why we have a car, home and personal insurance policy and IT security systems!
Hardware can fail, software updates may not be thoroughly tested and break your system, your city block may suffer a power cut or your office cleaner may unplug an essential part of your system to power up the vacuum cleaner.
If your IT systems go offline, your employees and customers will be unable to access your systems. When this happens, it’s essential to have a backup and restore plan in place. That’s where data and software backups come in.
Data and software backups
Data backups are copies of the data and software on your computer or network. They can be used to restore lost software or to recover from a system failure.
Ideally, data and software backups should be stored in a separate location from your IT systems. This way, if your primary site is damaged or destroyed, or in the event of a power cut, you still have access to your data and software.
It is also important to keep your backups up-to-date. This way, you will have the most recent version of your data and software available if you need it.
Disaster recovery plan
A disaster recovery plan is a document that outlines how to recover from a major system failure. The plan should include procedures for backing up data and software, restoring lost data and software, and recovering from a system failure as quickly as possible.
The disaster recovery plan should be tested regularly to ensure that it works as intended. This way, you will be prepared if a major system failure does occur.
Starboard IT are the IT security service provider you need
At Starboard IT, we’ve been providing IT security, managing and monitoring systems for years. Our team are well-trained and experienced. They will take the time to understand your business systems and processes and deliver a security solution tailor-made for your organisation.
We will securely back up your data as part of the disaster recovery strategy for your company. Our systems have been used successfully and are proven to work and are regularly tested.
Contact us today to arrange your free Disaster Recovery Plan Assessment.
Get in touch for more information.
For more information
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If you’re looking for consultancy services on your company’s security policy, contact Starboard IT to find out what we can do for you.
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