Security requirements have only gotten more and more complex as technology has developed. Now you needn’t worry about a robbery at your main premises, you need to worry about breaches from anywhere around the globe, as well as preventing those very same robberies.
There’s much more to protecting your firm than using a stronger lock. It takes real intelligence and fortitude to protect a business, and this even goes for small startups. So, let’s take a look at how you might cope with this without it taking up all of your day, and ruining the energy you should be using elsewhere.
Use A Stronger Lock
There’s more to protecting your firm than using a stronger lock. But using a stronger lock is still an essential part of protecting your firm, and a locksmith Toronto can help.. That was true the moment that locks where invented, and no matter how far we upload all of our assets to cyberspace, we can be sure that this will continue to be the case.
It can be important to consider how entry to your business can be gained, especially in a non-permitted context. How easily can someone walk into your building before they are stopped? Do you have your employees wear nametags, as a common security standard? Do you have keycard access to certain office blocks? Can you lock the doors in an emergency? Do you have CCTV, and security throughout the night? What errors might have occurred in the past, and how can you overcome them and prevent them from occurring again?
It’s important to consider how the locks on your property can make a real positive or harmful difference depending on your approach. Some might find this a hard prospect to deal with, some might know where the security flaw is immediately. It is your responsibility to ensure you apply yourself to the best of whatever you’re aiming for, and to regularly hire security consultants to help you isolate flaws in your system.
A Need To Know Basis
It is extremely important to ensure that your staff operate on a need to know basis. This means that those at the bottom of the hierarchy aren’t privy to the sensitive information that might direct or lead projects. It’s important to know how to keep your intellectual property safe. Using VPN’s can mask your online traffic and activity, and it can stop your digital systems from being so vulnerable. Ensuring that staff who have access to hidden files keep great security on their account is important.
Long passwords with complex characters and numbers can be essential. It can also be important to ensure each staff member uses 2 factor authentication on all accounts before those accounts become viable for use. Hiring a dedicated IT security professional can help these standards remain routinely adhered to, which is an important thing to get right.
On top of that, having staff at a high level sign non-disclosure agreements, no matter how much you trust them, can allow you to sue them for financial liability should they leak their sources. It can also be worthwhile to find a means to identify certain leaks if they happen. For example, certain sensitive files might be digitally watermarked with a unique serial number, to each staff member you give a file to. This can all sound like something from a spy movie, but the reality is that corporate espionage is a real threat, particularly if you’re leading the way in any kind of innovation. If you can stay ahead of the curve with this, you can prevent the leaks before they might occur.
Hold Staff Accountable
Holding staff accountable is an important thing to keep track of. Let’s say someone logs into their remote working module without using a VPN. That is a serious issue, something that can cause a real problem in the long term. It should be very clear what hte consequences of doing such a thing are. Perhaps a friendly warning first as well as having them update their account. Next, perhaps remote working isn’t a privilege you allow for a time. It really depends on how you discipline staff, or encourage them to keep up certain security processes.
However, certain issues must be stamped out immediately. For example, a willing lack of security and safety protocol obedience to save time or because they wish to take shortcuts is never acceptable. Refusing to commit to standard safety implements such as locking up inventory is also not acceptable. Opening the office at the weekend to show their friend around after they’ve had a few beers in town is quite clearly unprofessional. It’s often said that parents need to have eyes in the back of their head in order to keep watch over their children. Now imagine being a boss with a double-digit amount of staff under you.
When staff are routinely and politely informed of best practice, it is their duty to follow that. Rewarding them for success and disciplining them for failure, correctly and reasonably, can help you to no end.
Understand Your Needs
Understand just what you need to protect, and how you might do that. For example, raw materials might need certain storing conditions in order to prevent any waste or damage from occurring. The same goes for how you transport your assets after manufacturing, or how you maintain your equipment over long periods of time. This guide on the following types of inventory you might handle as a firm can indicate what security and safety solutions you might have to consider for each constituent element.
For example, a restaurant has a legal requirement to throw out near-expired or expired food by a certain date, meaning that carefully predicting your order needs can help you avoid becoming the person who is wasteful, before any potential thieves or bad practices do that for you. When understanding your needs you gain an even more intimate knowledge of your business, and it’s this that’s the most important thing to consider.
Legal Protections
Liability insurance can help you avoid hefty financial burdens should a staff member make a costly mistake on the job. Health insurance is a legal requirement, but also worthwhile to help your staff in emergency injury payouts. Ensuring those who use your staff car park know that they leave the vehicle there at their own personal risk can help you avoid frivolous lawsuits that might not be your fault in the slightest.
Copyright protections, financial lawyers and also pressing rightful claims can also ensure that your business will not be subverted due to harmful or bullying legal measures by other firms, which can happen.
Stay Ahead
It’s not uncommon for firms to undercut their prices to gain their name, or for targeted advertisement to try and steal your clients or customers. Be sure to keep an eye on the latest threat, and do your best to counter it or distinguish yourself through the challenge. This keeps competition healthy.
With this advice, we hope you are better able to protect your firm, in more ways than one.
