Category Archives: Data Backup

5 Data Privacy Mistakes to Avoid

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Data Privacy Mistakes

Data privacy mistakes can set the stage for immense damage to one’s business. An insignificant error can cost you millions of dollars in fines and reparations. It can even put you smack in the middle of stressful lawsuits. And it can even blow up and seriously harm the reputation of your business!

Therefore, the pressure is very high for business owners to avoid these mistakes at all costs. To do that, you first need to know which data privacy mistakes to avoid. That is what we are going to talk about in this post today.

5 Most Common Data Privacy Mistakes and Potential Solutions

The dread of something terrible happening because of a single wrong move can be debilitating to your business. Free yourself from needless worrying by knowing what data privacy mistakes to avoid and planning appropriate contingencies.

Failure to Obtain Consent

Collecting personal data without explicit consent directly violates the General Data Protection Regulation. Every time you ask people for personal data, be sure to include a way for them to either give recorded consent or opt out.

Weak Data Security Practices

With so many advanced data security systems now available, there is no excuse to stick to practices that are way below par. At the very least, be sure to use a reliable encryption method, use updated software, secure your storage systems, and conduct regular security audits.

Data Privacy Mistakes – Ignoring Data Subject Rights

According to the GDPR, it is the right of users to access, correct, or delete data they have submitted for collection. You can honor this right by establishing procedures that let them request access, corrections, or deletion of their information.

Over-Retention of Data: A Risky Data Privacy Mistake

The longer you store collected data, the higher the risk of a data breach. A simple solution is to store data only as long as necessary. Once it is no longer needed, the data must be deleted from your system.

Inadequate Staff Training

Employees are often the weakest link in cybersecurity. This is largely due to the inadequate security training they receive, especially with data privacy. Regular training sessions on privacy laws, data security practices, and data privacy mistakes to avoid will equip your staff with better knowledge and skills to handle data for your business.

Final Thoughts on Data Privacy Mistakes

These are just the most common data privacy mistakes to avoid. To ensure that none of these errors are made, the best move is to hire an MSP to take care of your data security. Now, if, despite all your precautions, your organization still falls victim to a data breach, you must have a recovery strategy ready to roll out immediately. We can help you with this by providing a free Data Breach Response Plan Template for your peace of mind. Download this resource right here, tailor it to align with your cybersecurity needs, and you’ll be ready for the worst attacks.

Navigating GDPR Compliance for Small Businesses

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For business owners, the primary goal is to make money. This makes perfect sense. Hence they focus on marketing strategies, product development, and other areas that directly impact sales. Other tasks, like data privacy and GDPR compliance for small businesses, end up in the back seat. However, these seemingly less important areas are of the foremost concern, right up there with revenue generation.

GDPR Compliance

One reason GDPR compliance for small businesses doesn’t get the attention it requires is that many business owners lack awareness. There are also many rules that ordinary people don’t know about. One can easily miss a rule and get penalized without knowing what happened. Also, data privacy laws change frequently. In this blog, we will help you navigate the world of GDPR compliance for small businesses with relative ease.

Why Is GDPR Compliance Important for Business?

So why is GDPR compliance so important for business? GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It provides directives on how organizations should deal with personal data. Failure to comply with these regulations can lead to penalties. What’s worrying is that the fines are not small amounts, either. Each year, as much as 4% of the global annual revenue of small businesses goes towards these easily preventable charges. You certainly don’t want to throw away your hard-earned profits just on fines!

More importantly, though, GDPR compliance minimizes the risk of data breaches and other security gaps that can compromise your safety and reputation. By achieving full compliance, you are effectively safeguarding your operations. Ultimately, it’s up to you to ensure that your business meets global data protection standards.

Key Steps to Ensure Compliance for Small Businesses

It seems an overwhelming task at first but the road to complete GDPR compliance doesn’t have to be so bumpy. These key steps will help make the process smoother.

  • Understand the process of data collection. Know which kinds of data to collect, where to store them, and how to use them without violating laws.
  • Always get explicit consent. Making assumptions is a no-no when you’re working with data collection. Make sure individuals give consent before you take their information. You must also provide an opt-out option for those who don’t want to participate.
  • Publish a clear and transparent privacy policy. How you collect, store, and use data must be clearly stated in an updated privacy policy that is easily accessible to everyone.
  • Apply data security measures. A key part of GDPR compliance is the implementation of robust security measures for data protection. Be sure to include encryption, multi-factor authentication, and regular audits.
  • Have a data breach response strategy in place. According to protocol, you must notify affected users and relevant authorities within 72 hours of a breach.

Conclusion

To help you achieve full GDPR compliance for small businesses, we have prepared a Data Breach Response Plan template that you can customize to align with your unique cybersecurity solutions. This resource is free to download and available right here. But what’s even better is to partner with an MSP that can guarantee your compliance, so you don’t have to spend time and effort doing it all yourself.

If you want to learn more about data privacy and compliance and how an MSP can help, just let us know. We’ll set you up for a free appointment at your earliest convenience!

Critical Benefits of Cybersecurity Insurance

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Benefits of Cybersecurity Insurance

If knowing little to nothing about the value and benefits of cybersecurity insurance is a crime, are you guilty?

While there’s nothing grave about it, a lack of knowledge can potentially cause massive losses for your business. It’s like knowing that an earthquake may happen but not having protective measures against the damage it causes.

Cyber threats can shake up your operations and leave you bleeding. Therefore, you need cyber liability insurance to cover any unexpected incidents. Learn about the benefits of cybersecurity insurance and why you absolutely must get coverage for your business by reading this guide.

Can the Benefits of IT insurance save you from financial ruin?

The thing about cyberattacks is that they can happen without warning. Take the CDK Global incident, for example. This large-scale hacking mishap affected 15,000 car dealers’ operations nationwide. That could easily translate to several million dollars in losses and costs.

If you were one of the targeted dealerships, did your financials take a serious hit? If not, could you recover if a similar incident happened in your line of work?

Comprehensive business protection insurance is a great way to minimize financial risks related to cyber threats. This contract involves transferring some of these risks to the insurance company for a periodic fee, or premium.

Cyber insurance may cover direct costs you incur after a cyberattack. The policy may include system repairs, data restoration costs, income loss, and ransomware payments. However, the coverage largely depends on the terms between the insurer and the insured.

Understanding the Benefits of Cybersecurity Insurance

There are more reasons to apply for IT insurance coverage than to operate without one. Do you want to get the best cyber protection? Here are the benefits of cybersecurity insurance.

Financial protection

Have you ever had an encounter with cyber attackers? It’s insane how astronomical the costs can be once you experience a data breach or ransomware attack. Cyber liability insurance policy can cover direct costs for repairs, disruptions, and legal fees resulting from the attack.

Risk management and prevention

Insurers may include risk mitigation and prevention services in your business protection insurance. Rather than being reactive, it’s best to have a proactive stance against threats. Vulnerability assessment and cybersecurity training are some of the inclusions in your policy.

Continuity of business

Taking a page from the CDK Global attack, operations can halt for precious hours or days after an incident. One of the best cybersecurity insurance benefits is that you can stay afloat while recovery operations are underway.

Cyber insurance is the key to peace of mind

Knowing that your business is protected can help you feel at ease. You must maintain a sense of security to ensure business goes on as usual even after a cyberattack.

Now, how do you get the best benefits of cybersecurity insurance for your company? The trick is to partner with a reputable managed services provider today. Co-managed IT can help ease the burden of protecting your data and systems. It all starts with having someone you can trust to easily handle this side of your business. Call us today for further assistance!

Before you leave, would you like to know more about cybersecurity insurance? Head to the ‘Common Pitfalls in Cybersecurity Insurance Applications’ free on-demand webinar now!

Introducing Microsoft Copilot: Robust AI Assistant for Work

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Microsoft Copilot

What happens when AI-powered technology weighs into how companies do business? Now, you can stop imagining and start discovering with Microsoft Copilot, the premier smart assistant. It steadily emerges as a vital tool for firms and organizations across a broad range of industries.

Microsoft Copilot is a multi-faceted product with a boatload of features that fit every type of need or requirement. Do you want to learn how this versatile tool can help your day-to-day work? Here’s a quick guide for you.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Since time immemorial, humans have sought to innovate processes and systems to make work easier. There’s the invention of the wheel, for example. Back in the day, transporting heavy stuff was next to impossible until wheeled carts came into use.

Could you live in a world where you had to lift and carry your luggage when traveling? Thankfully, wheeled equipment and transportation quite literally ease this huge burden off people’s shoulders.

In the same manner, Microsoft Copilot is the latest innovation from the powerhouse that provides revolutionary digital platforms. This latest AI assistant is the convergence of large language models or LLMs and the power of 365 apps.

It’s simply magic—your everyday work is made even more manageable with its existence. Here is an overview of how you can make the most of this AI tool for various Microsoft applications.

Copilot in Word

Microsoft Copilot for Word can take your breath away with how many tasks it can handle for you. It can create, comprehend, analyze, and summarize your documents within seconds. Does formatting tables take too much of your time? Copilot can visualize and transform text to create tables in Word for you.

Copilot in Outlook

Is email marketing a large chunk of your management and marketing strategy? Now, Copilot can organize your inbox and create professionally made emails for your business. It can take information from messages to suggest action items, meetings, and replies that consequently make your job easier.

Copilot in Teams

Here’s another incredible quality that will make you want to get Copilot—smart integration to Microsoft Teams! The AI tool can give you updates on ongoing meetings in real time. You can type, “What are the key points of the meeting so far,” and it will reiterate your information. It can also recap discussions you may have missed. Now, isn’t that impressive?

Should you get Microsoft Copilot for your business?

Copilot is the robust AI assistant that you would want on your lineup. It can reinforce your teams from virtually every level, from data entry to marketing to sales and more.

With powerful machine learning and natural language capabilities, this tool is everything you need to boost your team’s productivity! Call us today for more information!