How much can a Data Breach or an Information leak cost you? Well, we are talking about millions of Dollars here. In a 2013 Data Breach disclosed by Yahoo in 2017, over 3 billion accounts were affected globally. This disclosure became a major reason for Yahoo’s rapidly declining popularity, and a $50 Million bill it agreed to pay to those who were affected.

The number 1,946,181,599 sure sends chills down our spines. Why? It is the exact number of records containing personal information & sensitive data of the people that were compromised between 2017 and 2018. Moreover, it is not just the cyber-thieves waiting to exploit your secured records at the strike of right time. There are other vulnerabilities too.

In 2012, a Data center located in ‘Shaw Communications Building,’ Calgary, Canada was bought down by fire. The Data center was housing critical data from multiple partners, including the Indian Government. The fire destroyed 15-250 servers that contained Identities and information of 200 Million Indians as a part of government’s UID initiative. Luckily, the Indian Government had backup data secured at multiple locations. But, this luck might not be for everyone.

So what can be done to evade the fate of loss, and ensure a bulletproof security for your organization’s records? Your company will appreciate the following information!

Following is the list of Record Management Security vulnerabilities you may have missed while housing your critical information.

Who can access the information?

Information leak and Record breaches, physical or digital, can occur within an organization due to human error or malicious intents of an employee. It has been established that a majority of the data breaches are caused by ‘human error.’ Thus, to prevent this, your organization can take certain steps;

• Specify the ‘Clearance level’ or ‘Authorization Level’ of information access to employees at different levels. Confidential information must be accessible by selected few employees only.
• Background checks can be helpful. Try to track if any of your staff has been involved in any such incident that might raise a Red flag. Knowing that your employees are strong when it comes to business ethics can bring peace of mind. Your records might be deemed safe with such checks.
• Training your employees and staff will be critical. They must be instructed about potential Phishing attacks, malware injections, information stealing activity, or any suspicious event.

In-house Record Storage & Management

Well, if you are storing your confidential proprietary and business information in the organization’s operations premises, you might be wrong! Internal record management can give the unauthorized not-so-friendly employees an opportunity to intrude your valuable data mine. Hence, it makes sense to utilize the power of a commercial Record Management Service. A commercial Record center is situated away from your location and adequately equipped with all the systems to securely store your precious records. An information management service like ours comes equipped with;

• Digital Surveillance
• Stringent Access Control & Monitoring
• Fire & Safety Systems

Backups & Their Storage

Backups reduce the points of failure in case if the stored data/records are destroyed. Your business information must be backed up and stored at multiple locations. A rookie mistake made by many organization’s responsible employees is ‘Storing the Backup at homes.’ While your home might be a safe place against the intruders, it cannot prevent temperature and humidity from destroying your Backup Tapes. Professional record keeping services are equipped with temperature and climate control systems that ensures your data’s survival even in the harsh conditions.

Destroying and Shredding the Records yourself!

If you think your office shredders are as efficient as ours, maybe you’re mistaken. Office shredders are inefficient and faulty. You might think that a shredder did its job, but a paper clip or a tiny staple kept it from doing that. Would you risk it? Of course not! Destroying digital data and physical documents is tedious and time consuming. Combine these factors and you just invited ‘sniffers’ to the bins who might collect your undestroyed documents while you were sipping coffee in your office, patting the shredder for its marvelous job. Hiring a professional shredding service like ours can save you the time and hassle.

In a nutshell, ensure that all the vulnerabilities associated with your critical records are covered. Hire a professional information management service for peace-of-mind and saving time!