That is one question that you should be asking yourself when you consider the safety and security of your network. Each year we hear of more and more companies that have their security breached and their information stolen. If those companies had asked themselves if they were protected, along with these other questions, then they may have been safe from attack.
Who Is Protecting My Data?
Data is everything to your business. All of the records that keep your business running as well as the things that you need to do future business can all be found there. So the first thing you should know is who is keeping it safe? Is it your internal IT department? A contractor who was hired to do the job? A cloud company who is storing your data for you? Regardless of the answer, the important part is asking the question. That way you know who to go to when you need to ask other questions like…
Where Is My Data?
Once you know who is protecting your data, you need to know where they are keeping it. It is no longer as simple as storing data on several servers in the basement and backing them up once a week to tape. Data is large; it is cumbersome and very important. It can be stored locally, it can be stored off shore or it can be stored in the cloud. You need to know exactly where it is being kept and also how to access it when you need it. An additional question to ask in conjunction with the location of your data is if your data is being kept in a shared repository is it being shared with others?
Who Can Access My Data?
Access can mean more than just the ability to read the data when they need it. Who is the administrator for your database(s)? Are they the ones that are responsible for updating the data or is that duty on another person or people? Knowing who is accessing the data can be integral to figuring out if the data is accurate or not.
You also want to make sure that any of your trusted partners who may need access to the data can get to it when they need to. This can be tricky during set up, so you should ensure that whoever is in charge of your data has a detailed access list.
Is My Data Protected?
The data you have collected is no good if it gets spilled all over the internet. This means that it should be properly protected. What security team is working to protect your data systems, and what kind of hardware and software are they using to do it? This knowledge is critical in keeping your data secure.
Trust US Computer Connection for Your IT Network Consulting Needs
US Computer Connection are experts in data and network security. Contact us to help out with the answers to any of the above questions.