How Secure is Your Data?
Performance Growth Partners Inc. believes in sharing with our readers good ideas we have encountered. This is an example of a business we have personally used and found valuable.
"We're not in Bloomington anymore." Sometimes people carry their secure feeling about living in Bloomington, Illinois – which has one of the lowest crime rates for cities its size in the nation – into the rest of their lives. But small business owners need to remember that when you are on the Internet, you are also in Beijing, Detroit, Moscow and South Africa. You have to think of international-power security for your computer, not just a simple bike lock that you might use on the Constitution Trail, the family-friendly bike trail that runs through town.
The worldwide-ness and accessibility of the Internet simply means that sooner or later, someone will breech your security. It’s not a question of “if”, it’s a matter of “when”, and how bad will it be, according to Mark DeKeersgieter, business development manager for InTegrity Technology Solutions – which provides services to businesses, schools, and non-profit organizations to ensure that their data is safe.
The best approach is to be prepared, which will likely require finding an expert to outsource your computer security to, since most small businesses today can’t afford the kind of security systems they need to be safe today.
There are constant reminders of how important it is to take care of that kind of business. Newspapers and trade magazines are full of stories about big and small companies which have had their security breeched, and data or personal information stolen.
Earlier this summer, the security breech at Monster.com was a real eye-opener for anyone who hires employees. It reminds everyone how vulnerable we are when we put information on the Internet if we haven't taken precautions to secure it. It is very likely that the identifying information taken from this site alone was sold for between $14 and $50 a piece and will soon haunt the people across the nation, DeKeersgieter said.
Such theft doesn’t only happen to companies that are primarily Internet-based either. In another incident, the parent company of T.J. Maxx and owner of more than 25,000 retail stores announced in January that hackers had gained access to the company’s customer information, and exposed more than 45 million credit and debit users to identity theft. With the stolen information the hackers created dummy credit cards and walked away with nearly $8 million of merchandise from Wal-Mart stores. Now almost a year later, the clothing retailing company is still dealing with a trail of lawsuits and has paid millions to protect itself and its data from future problems.
Sometimes when a theft takes place, there is the worry of not knowing what the consequences will be, at the same time as being aware they could be extremely problematic. In April, a Caterpillar Inc. benefits consultant’s laptop computer was stolen, putting employees at risk. So far, none of the information has been used, but there is a worry it could be. As a result of that incident, Caterpillar has created a plan for improved protection of personal data.
More and more businesses want to put a plan of action in place before they find themselves in the same position as these companies.
Many small businesses started off with one staff member, who knew a little more about technology than the rest of the staff, as the person in charge of the company’s IT security, but as threats have grown, that doesn’t work anymore. Nowadays, when more money is made on identity thefts than illegal drugs, it pays to be prepared, said Harlan Geiser, the president of InTegrity Technology Solutions which was founded 15 years ago to solve problems for customers.
The basic steps we should take to protect the data on our computer are similar to what we would do to protect our home from intruders or disaster, Geiser said. The commonly accepted three-pronged approach is to: Protect, Detect, Respond, he said. We’d protect our home with locks and insurance. We’d detect intruders by having a dog or an alarm system, and respond to a break in by calling police etc. The same holds true for small businesses' data. Ensure that all the protection, including the latest patches are in place and up to date; engage a system to monitor and detect problems, and have someone to call for help if a problem or emergency arises.
Having a simple firewall isn’t enough, and anti-virus packages are only as good as their last updating. All the little things that help make data safer are important, but if there is one nick in the armor we have installed, the intruder will find it. And, often people who have been victims of identity theft or had personal information snatched aren’t even aware of it until a problem arises, said Geiser, whose company provides complete solutions for data security. The solutions his team provides have evolved as technology has, and as thieves and hackers have found new ways to challenge problem solvers.
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“In a time when these security needs loom very large, and when finding and fielding a team of highly qualified IT professionals with the requisite skills to really do what is needed, is as impossible for the typical small- and medium-sized business as it would be expensive, a Bloomington-based business, InTegrity Technology Solutions, brings the solutions that put a business person’s mind at ease. I’ve seen it work, and would like to let my clients know that a reliable option exists.” Rick Galbreath, SPHR, PGPi.
This is a non-compensated endorsement.
You can find more about InTegrity Technology Solutions by calling their Bloomington, Ill. office at (309) 664-8146 or checking out their Web site at www.integrityts.com
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