Tag Archives: data backup

10 Reasons Why Businesses Need Password Management

Need Password Management
Data Backup, Security, Technology, , , , ,

Password security is one of the most basic yet valuable aspects of protecting your business. Your company’s security relies heavily on the quality of your passwords and how you manage them. Therefore, people must choose strong, unique passwords and regularly change them to minimize the risk of hacking. That is why businesses need to choose a great Password Management tool.

Password Management is risky and tedious with the increasing number of accounts we have. Businesses need a strong password solution for data security. If you don’t have one, here are 10 compelling reasons to get a password manager soon.

We Need Password Management to Enhanced Data Security

A password manager comes with many features that can dramatically increase the security of your business. It can generate passwords that are virtually impossible to decipher. They can store these passwords in secure locations in the cloud. Password Management tools also come with multifactor authentication.

Regulatory Compliance

No matter what industry, businesses need to comply with data security regulations. There is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, for instance, and the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. A password manager ensures compliance with these and other relevant laws.

Fewer Passwords to Remember

The stress that employees experience can increase because they have to remember dozens of passwords for the various accounts they use at work. With the Password Management tool, there is no need to remember all these passwords because the program can auto-fill them for you.

Improved Work Productivity

With fewer things on their mind and fewer worries about forgotten passwords, employees can focus more on their actual job responsibilities. Overall work productivity will improve, ultimately leading to better business performance.

Authorized Password Sharing

For accounts where multiple individuals have access, password managers allow these entities to share passwords without compromising security.

Security in Remote Work

With most businesses now using a remote or hybrid work setup, there is much security concern when accessing business accounts from home or public networks. Through tools like high-level encryption, a password manager can guarantee the security of your business network, even with a remote workforce.

We Need Password Management For Better Digital Estate Planning

When the owner dies, the inheritors can refer to the digital estate plan to determine what to do with the digital assets. However, they have a hard time gaining access to the accounts because they do not know the passwords. But if you use a password manager now, this can be incorporated with digital estate planning, making for a hassle-free transition of the business in the owner’s event’s passing.

Centralized Control

The larger the business is, the more complicated password management can get. A password manager program gives IT control over password generation and employee access.

Financial Savings

It’s not the first thing you would think of, but password managers can save you extra expenses. They help save businesses by reducing the time employees spend retrieving forgotten passwords.

We Need Password Management for Business Continuity

In case the business suffers a disaster, like a data breach or a natural calamity, a password manager helps ensure business continuity amidst the recovery process by giving you secure access to all your login credentials.

Final Thoughts on Why Businesses Need Password Management

If these reasons still don’t convince you to get a password management system right away, we encourage you to Download our Free Password Management Cheat-Sheet. You will discover more about password management and other cloud-based solutions that apply to businesses.

If you are ready to take the next step, call us—our team is always here to help!

A Step-by-Step Guide to an Effective Digital Estate Planning

effective digital estate planning
Data Backup, Security, Technology, , , ,

In our previous blog, we began talking about the digital assets of a business—what they are, why they are vital to the business, and how to protect them. We have also mentioned how important it is to protect them even after you, the business owner, have passed away, through effective digital estate planning.

A digital estate plan will give authorized people access to business accounts, and all other restricted aspects of the business when you are no longer around or have become incapacitated. But how does one create an effective digital estate plan? It’s not something that you do every day. What are the things to include? How can you guarantee that the business you have worked so hard to build can go on properly? Here are the important steps that you need to take.

Take an Inventory of All Your Digital Assets

First, you need to create a list of all the digital assets of your business, which might encompass a wider range than you think. These are all the digital files that have value for your business, from photos and videos of your products to transaction records and everything in between. It also includes all accounts you maintain for your business. Taking inventory of your assets is an effective digital estate plan.

Decide How to Manage Your Digital Assets

For each item you have listed, you must specify how to proceed with it after you pass. Who will have access? What should be done with them? How do you want them managed? It is important to be clear and concise in leaving these instructions because they will be followed when you are no longer around to make clarifications.

In selecting your designated backup person, the one who will have control over the digital assets of your business when you cannot do so, pick one who is both capable and trustworthy. In addition, they should also be well-versed in the operations of your business.

Keep an Updated List of Passwords for an Effective Digital Estate Planning

Practically everything now is online and requires a login name and password. It is crucial to keep all of this login information in a place that is not only completely safe but also accessible to authorized entities when the time comes.

A great way to store your passwords as an effective digital estate plan is by using a password manager. Here, you can safely store any online credentials. It also conveniently allows any authorized entity to access the login information. With a password manager, you can also easily update the saved passwords whenever you change them.

Strengthen Your Digital Security

When a business owner passes away, there will be quite a few entities with a vested interest in the business. This people will try to get their hands on it. They might think that since the owner has died, no one would watch the gates, and getting in would be easier. This would not be true if you increased your data security as early as now.

Multi-factor authentication is one of the most popular methods people are using today as a login procedure. This is because it can add a robust layer of security to any account. Besides traditional passwords, you should also activate the use of one-time passcodes. This is to ensure that only authorized individuals will gain access to your digital assets.

Final Thoughts for an Effective Digital Estate Planning

Preparing in the event of death is no different with a company’s digital estate. To help you prepare for the inevitable, we have created a Digital Estate Planning Checklist and Password Cheat Sheet that you can download for free.

This guide contains a lot of useful information that you would need to organize a complete digital estate plan. This is one of many things you can do to protect your digital assets. If you have questions or need further assistance, our team is just a call away!

Protecting Your Business through Digital Estate Planning

digital estate planning
Cybersecurity, Data Backup, Security, Technology, , , ,

Keeping your business protected is very important. But you should ask yourself if you have all areas covered. Security cameras and restricted entry areas are vital for protecting the physical location. To protect employees, implement all their necessary rights and privileges, and so on. All this is important, but one thing to prioritize as a business owner is protecting your digital assets through digital estate planning.

What Are Digital Assets?

Digital assets comprise everything in your business that is, well, digital. These include data, software, applications, and intellectual property. If you are like most businesses today, your daily operations rely heavily on these digital assets. It makes sense that you safeguard them to the best of your ability with digital estate planning.

Effective Strategies for Protecting Digital Assets Using Digital Estate Planning

Cybercriminals are now very creative in launching their attacks, so business owners must be extra vigilant and meticulous in protecting digital assets. Here are some of the most effective strategies for digital estate planning that you can use.

Strong Passwords

It is surprising how many businesses today still use passwords that are so easy to crack. Hackers might have advanced strategies for infiltrating your system, but you can make their job much more difficult by using unique, complex, and strong passwords. Also, be sure to change passwords periodically to minimize the risk of a data breach. This is common practice for digital estate planning.

Access Controls

One of the easiest but most effective ways to protect your digital assets is to restrict access to them. This step will drastically reduce the risk of data falling into the wrong hands, and should there be a leak, it will be easier to trace where it originated.

Digital Estate Planning – Data Encryption

No matter how confident you are in your data security measures, you should never underestimate the capabilities of cybercriminals. In case they steal your data, high-level encryption will protect it from being exposed or used for illicit purposes. That is why a part of digital estate planning is always encrypting your data.

Biometrics

Biometrics is now a popular alternative to conventional sign-in methods. Not only is this more convenient for the users, but it also offers more security. Using fingerprints or facial recognition ensures that no one other than the allowed individual can log in. Also, people would no longer need to remember passwords or write them down, which only adds to the vulnerability of the old method.

Backup and Recovery

If anything happens, you should have a reliable data backup and recovery plan, which is essential for protecting digital assets. You must save and store backups regularly in multiple secure and protected locations.

Employee Training

Your employees can be valuable in protecting digital assets, but ironically, they are also usually the weakest link. With regular employee training, however, you can turn them into a robust first line of defense and circumvent most security threats.

Security Software

There is a wide range of software created for protecting digital assets, firewalls, threat detection applications, antivirus software, and so on. If you are unsure of which software to get, you can always enlist the help of an MSP who will recommend the best security solutions to match your needs.

Importance of Digital Estate Planning

An element of protecting digital assets is that many companies do not even think of digital estate planning. It is simply preparing your digital assets. This is so that an authorized person gains access to everything in the event of your death.

This might sound morbid, but it does not differ from other forms of estate planning. It also makes it easier for your business partners, beneficiaries, or heirs to continue the business when you are gone. As this could still be a new concept for some business owners, we have prepared a Digital Estate Planning Checklist and Password Cheat Sheet, both of which you can download for free.

In this, we delve into the advantages of having a digital estate plan, how to go about it, and why password management is a very important part of it. Our team is also ready to help you create a comprehensive digital estate plan, which is crucial for protecting your digital assets, even long after you are gone.

Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR) Plan: Preparing For A New Year

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Businessman hand using laptop with backup disaster recovery concept

Reviewing your disaster recovery plan is critical in keeping your network up and running.

Every business needs to be properly prepared for anything these days, including disasters. There will be plenty on the line for your business if a disaster strikes. If a disaster does strike, you could lose sensitive data that you may not be able to get back. If a disaster does strike, will your business be ready to handle a data loss incident?

People from all parts of the world have made their resolution as the new year was set to begin. One of the best ways your business can enter into the new year is to have an effective and efficient Backup and Disaster Recovery(BDR) plan that will greatly minimize any downtime and keep your business safe from any events that you cannot control. We want to help you create a BDR plan that will meet all of your business’s needs.

An Effective BDR Plan

Many small business owners do not always understand how valuable their business data is, but it is a very valuable asset to the business. This is why it is so important that you are able to protect your business data at all times. One of the best ways to do this is to find a BDR solution that will provide you with the tools and resources you need to restore your data. In addition, all of your data will not be created equally. You will find that some of your data will have a high value and others will not. If you want to build an effective strategy that will protect your business from any unfortunate data loss, we recommend that you sort through your data so you can determine what data you will need at all times and what data may not be as useful as the others.

Improving Your BDR This Year

We know that everyone wants to strive for better each year, and it should be no different when you have a business. Implementing an effective Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan this year is a great way for your business to improve this year. We know it can seem like a daunting task when it is time to implement the strategies that fit your business, but we recommend that you try some of the following guidelines and suggestions:

  • Make sure you are communicating with your IT team to plan the right recovery strategy for your business. You will need to have a plan that will fully outline your goals, missions, and objectives.

 

  • Find the right Backup and Disaster Recovery(BDR) platform that will give you every opportunity to back up your data without having long wait times and downtimes.

 

  • When you find the right platform and implement your platform, we encourage you to test your backup on a regular basis. When you regularly test your backup plan, you will be able to determine its efficiency and effectiveness. With a regular test, you will have the assurance you need in knowing that your BDR plan will be ready to roll when you need it.

Every year, small businesses, mid-size businesses, and large businesses are hit with threats, malware attacks, viruses, natural disasters, and more. Also, some businesses lose data due to a human mistake. Unfortunately, many of these businesses do not have the proper Backup and Disaster Recovery(BDR) plan, which will result in a significant amount of downtime as the business tries to recover its data.

We know the new year has just started and you have so many things on your plate already, but we encourage you to make room for BDR. We want to make sure your business’s data is available at all times, even when disaster strikes. For more information on our Backup and Disaster Recovery(BDR) solutions, please do not hesitate to contact us today.