12 ways companies should improve their data security in the age of IoT (Part 2)

Ngoc Huynh

Reduce the amount of digitized confidential information

A not-so-common approach to data security is to actually limit the amount of confidential data you store online to what is absolutely necessary. Make hard copies and delete unnecessarily risky files.

Safely store your data in the cloud with strict permission levels

More and more companies are storing their data in the cloud. However, if you wish to store information virtually, you must consider the added risk that your information may be accessible to others, potentially including people who you do not wish to have access. We highly recommend putting strict permission levels in place so only certain individuals who really need to see those files or folders have access to them. Having a cloud server also restricts staff from saving their files on their personal computer. At our agency, the cloud servers are a remote drive on their computers so all files gets stored and saved in the cloud.

Have users change passwords no less than every 90 days

Most data breaches come from people using very easy to guess passwords. There are a number of strategies you can deploy to require users to take extra steps, including basic things like requiring the use of capital letters, numbers and symbols (or combinations thereof), but what I’ve found to be even more secure is requiring users to change their password no less than every 90 days. This helps to protect from internal intruders, as well as workplace breaches, and maximizes global data security across your business.

Use a mobile device management-like approach

We can replicate the MDM approach for IoT so that we can manage and monitor the devices, which are connected to the IoT network. Companies can inject the data encryptions from the remote locations and change it whenever needed. Devices can also be profiled or removed from access. We can also manage the apps that run on IoT devices. The MDM infrastructure already exists and just needs some modification for IoT.

Educate yourself

There are many ways to ensure protection of data with the growth of IoT. First and foremost, stay educated on the latest security practices. By knowing the latest security trends, you can be proactive and keep your company secure. Also, make sure to limit who is authorized to the data and set secure passwords that change frequently. If you detect any shortcomings in your security, act quickly. – Patrick Barnhill, Specialist ID, Inc.

Constantly test

The only way to make sure something is consistently secure is to test it all the time. It isn’t unusual for deeply data-sensitive organizations to hire an experienced respectable hacker to test their security structure. Vulnerability scanning and evaluations are equally important inside and outside your security system. If you can find a way to get illegitimate access to your data, the outside world can as well

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Source : https://thenextweb.com