Information has become increasingly vulnerable nowadays. As a business owner, you are responsible not only for protecting your own company’s information, but also your customers’.

You’ve already taken a big step towards information security by engaging the professional document destruction services of Complete Shredding. Here are 10 more tips to keep your sensitive business information secure.

Safeguarding physical documents and records

1. Keep records securely locked and stored in a safe place where people would not accidentally wander into it.
2. Review who among your staff has access to sensitive documents. An employee should only be given access to private information if required for his role or function.
3. Make sure authorised staff are properly trained in handling, returning and and locking away all confidential files at the end of each day.
4. Set a regular schedule to take stock of records and check if any of them have passed their retention time.

Safeguarding Data Stored Electronically

5. Enforce use of difficult-to-guess passwords in all of your systems, and have your staff change them regularly.
6. Invest in regular website maintenance and security scans. New malware is being released all the time and keeping your software up-to-date is paramount to preventing against the latest threats.
7. Encrypt all portable devices or any removable and easily transported storage media. This gives both your personal and business files a layer of protection should your laptop or phone get stolen or lost and fall into the wrong hands.
8. Before discarding and destroying old computers, CDs or hard drives, make sure their contents are properly erased.
9. Have an action plan in place for when a severe data breach takes place.
10. Encourage staff to report potential data loss or breaches.