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Are your files exposed to the “elements”?

files exposed to the elementsLiving in the northeast United States for my entire life has taught me some valuable lessons on being prepared for the ever-changing weather conditions.  Mother Nature can be very unforgiving and if you let your guard down you generally find out at the worst possible time that you have a problem – like in the middle of a snowstorm!

Thinking ahead and anticipating where the trouble will come from is important if you want to survive in our dynamic weather environment!

It’s easy to relate the challenges of protecting your property from Mother Nature to safeguarding your data from the constantly changing threats that target the security of personal and business information.

I recall a quote from a recent conference where the presenter stated “it no longer works to base control decisions on past performance”.  So often we hear people say that they aren’t aware of any security issues in their business, so why should we invest in more technology to prevent something when we have never had a problem?  The reason is that the risk environment today has changed significantly and it only takes one disgruntled employee or an email forwarded from a smartphone with a confidential attachment to bring your business to its knees!

Business leaders need to re-examine how they are protecting their confidential information and make appropriate adjustments on a periodic basis – preferably every six months. The person whose name will be published in the media when a data breach occurs should require their IT or Security personnel to answer the following questions: “How do we protect confidential data once someone removes it from the company?” or “Can we disable confidential files if necessary regardless of their location?”  If there are not good answers to these questions, you should re-examine your defense against the advanced persistent threats that are targeting both companies and individuals.

Don’t wait until it’s too late to protect your most valuable assets from the “elements”!

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