How safe is your data?

It's true that in some parts of the world despite the ideal of a paperless business some businesses are going back to paper for secuity reasons.

Unbelievable? Believe it!

One of the most difficult things to copy or forge is the humbe handwritten signature. No matter how beefed up your security technology is your data is still vulnerable.

Ok, so it may be a little extreme but your data no matter what it is is valuable at least to you and perhaps to others. So what do you do?

Solutions are out there from free encryption solutions thorugh to more complex paid for almost bespoke solutions. "What is right for me?" I hear the cry. The answer is fairly simple as long as you understand exatly what you want to achieve.

The first step is to actually look at what you have. Many Internet Security offerings have a built in Encryption or Data Leakage Prevention component one of the best is contained within Sophos Endpoint Security and Sophos Small Business. The reason why I say best is though nothing other than I know many that have purchased Sophos purely because of this fucntionality. If your current solution has an encryption feature or DLP feature switch it on if it is not on and you do not have admin rights enquire why it is not on.

Secondly if you want to go a little further look at your business and your network. Then draw up a list of where you feel you are at risk of exposing data. One of the most overlooked areas is the accounting system. It is fine to have the data all secured inside the software such as SAP or ACCPAC but how do 99% of company managers share this information? The answer Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. As soon as the data hits the external application te security is gone! You need to review this area of security.

To be honest there is no harm whatsoever in doing a complete security audit of your business. Use someone independent that does not know your business, someone who will be honest and someone who knows little about you or your business. This sounds odd but there is method in the madness. A person who knows your business will acknowledge the little short cuts, will feel embarrased to tell his or her friend that things are not up to scratch. An unknown will be brutally honest and give you the answers that you need.

So finally some Solutions you might want to look at or at least resources you may find handy:

http://www.sophos.com
http://www.pgp.com
http://www.mcafee.com
http://www.isheriff.com
http://buysinc.blogspot.com

Easy to buy

Easy to buy. Something everyone wishes they could have in their budget. The cost of technology is always high and the technology vendors are always looking for a way to make it easy to buy.

But how much easier to buy do you need? Remember trying to please everyone is close to impossible so you need some balance. Easy to buy is rarely, for the better solutions anyhow, cheaper. Easy to buy essentially takes away Capital Pains and turns them into Cash Flow cures. In the past going from up front Capital Expenditure meant tying yourself into a long service contract and this has in the past bee very off-putting. Things today are thankfully less so.

Take Software for example. Software as a Service is becoming the norm with many vendors creating it purely as a service not so much a "here is the finance now you can buy it" solution. Google SAAS or Software as a Service and you will be dumbstruck as to what is out there.

So, how does SAAS help me?

SAAS is essentially taking what you need and using it and paying in very affordable chunks each month. It helps your cashflow for one and in many regions in the world the item "purchased" comes off balance sheet and there are therefore some tax benefits. Before jumping in to SAAS discuss the benefits internally IT and Finance need to work together to release the benefits.

Some of the better SAAS solutions on the market come from already existing old school providers such as Mcafee, Symantec and SAP. However, whilst the mainstream players have kept on with their old school offering, it is their current main income remember, they have lost a little ground to some of the new kids on the block.

Take a look below just 3 of the products: