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