What Is The Main Goal Of Information Security For Small Businesses?
Wondering why you need to implement information security systems in your small business, and what the main goal of securing your IT systems should be?
As a matter of fact, information security systems have three important goals, and each one is important to your small business. Let’s take a look at them now, and discuss the importance of each one.
- Preventing Loss Of Availability
Working toward this goal means you’re doing your best to ensure that your IT systems are always available when you need them – and do not suffer from downtime, errors, and bugs. This usually involves steps like:
- Maintaining and repairing IT hardware
- Updating your OS and software regularly
- Backing up and updating data regularly
- Implementing redundancy/failover systems to ensure minimal downtime
- Creating a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) to resume operations quickly after an incident
- Using security equipment like firewalls and proxy servers to combat network intrusions and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks
- Preventing Loss Of Integrity
This goal relates to the consistency, accuracy, and trustworthiness of your data. You must implement strong controls to preserve the integrity of your data, to ensure that data cannot be altered or changed by unauthorized users. Common steps taken toward this goal include:
- Implementing file permission and user access controls
- Using version controls to prevent accidental deletion or changes by authorized users
- Using backups and redundant systems to restore data affected by data breaches, hacks or loss
- Preventing Loss Of Confidentiality
This goal relates to preventing data loss from unauthorized hacks, intrusions into your IT systems, and other such data breaches. Measures must be taken to keep your data – and data from your customers – safe from potential hacks and loss. Usually, this will include steps like:
- Encrypting databases and network traffic
- Restricting sensitive information to only those who need to see it
- Storing sensitive information on specialized, highly-secured servers
- Using strong passwords and requiring frequent password changes
- Utilizing two-factor authentication (2FA) on work computers
- Training employees to recognize phishing attempts
Know The Goals Of Information Security – And Start Working Toward Them
Preventing loss of integrity, confidentiality and availability are the three most important goals of any information security system for small businesses. So if you’re interested in learning more or would like information about managed IT security services that can keep your data safe, contact West County Computers right away. We’d be happy to discuss how we can protect your small business, and enhance the security of your IT systems.
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