Big Data is a concept that’s not going to go away. Businesses in every industry make use of it. While there are plenty of benefits to big data collection, it also makes your personal data more vulnerable to cybercriminals. Here are five ways you can do to protect yourself from cyber attacks and more.
Don’t Open E-Mails from Strangers
Since scare tactics are common among cybercriminals, it’s best not to open an e-mail from someone you don’t know. They use these e-mails to create an urgent scenario, which usually involves a bank account or another online account. It makes you think that you need to act immediately, therefore leading to poor decisions based on impulse habits.
If you receive a phishing e-mail with a document attached, you shouldn’t even download the attachment. It could cause serious damage to your business network. That’s because that attachment installs malware instantly onto your hard drive without your knowledge. It might even disguise itself as a system update or a simple “yes or no” question.
Create Strong Passwords
Every year it’s revealed that people are using simple passwords. You should never create passwords that contain your name or birthdate. While these are passwords you can remember, it’s better to create a strong password that’s hard for others to guess. For example, an abbreviated sentence is better than a simple word.
Your passwords should also include a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters as well as numbers and symbols. You can also invest in a password management system that can generate and store passwords on your behalf.
Back Up Your Data Regularly
Backing up your data regularly is always a good decision for several reasons. If you use Big Data, then you’ll need to ensure that it’s safely stored somewhere. Backing up your data will ensure that you have everything you need in the event that something unfortunate happens. But you won’t have to worry about retrieving this information as it’s easily accessible.
Every time you back up your data, you’re preventing security breaches from happening. If a hacker gets access to your Big Data and demands ransom to unencrypt it, then it won’t be an issue since you backed up that data a week ago.
Invest in Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology has been helping many industries, such as the healthcare sector Healthcare records are frequently prone to hacks. Twenty-five percent of data breaches occur in the healthcare sector alone. Blockchain resolves this problem by keeping your data anonymous and secure.
You can rest assured that your data is stored separately from the information that identifies the individual it’s related to. Blockchain technology also ensures that your data will never be altered and access is automatically and meticulously maintained. Blockchain technology has been introduced in 15% of healthcare applications. This technology should be implemented in other industries as well.
Educate Your Employees
Your business security network is only as strong as you let it. You can take all the precautions and still suffer a data breach. You may even be using a free virtual private network to surf the internet.
But if your employees and other people who access your network are doing everything in their part to keep everything secure, it doesn’t matter. Make sure that everyone who accesses the network knows the best practices for keeping it secure.
This includes staying educated. Making sure that your employees, yourself, and your business are safe means keeping up with the latest trends and technologies. Be strict on which websites your employees can visit even when using a free virtual private network. Be extremely careful about what you post on social media. Learn about the recent threats that are affecting the digital world.
