Running a successful company can be a challenge in and of itself. It is imperative to ensure that your hard work, revenue, and staff are protected from threats that can potentially harm and destroy years of hard work. One of the best ways to ensure that your data is protected from hackers and malicious third parties is by hiring a security risk management consultant.
For those who are not familiar with the term and title, Security Risk Management Consultants are trained experts in the field of data security. The primary goal of these consultants is to assess your company’s current standing, identify any potential or current threats that can harm the business. After analyzing this information, the consultant or team of consultants will create a comprehensive and strategic plan to protect you, your company and all subsequent data.
What Can Security Risk Consultants Do?
Some businesses may not be convinced they need the services of a security management consultant. Perhaps you already have security measures in place or simply do not see the immediate need for a security risk consultant. It is an executive decision to bring in a third party to assess your company’s standing in regards to security. Below you will see a plethora of benefits that come along with hiring a consultant and the risks associated with neglecting data security measures.
There are a variety of data security risks that can pose a threat to your company.
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Malware: Malicious software. This type of security risk is often referred to as a Trojan Horse, because of its harmless appearance. Malware can materialize itself as a software update or new protection software for your phone, tablet or laptop. After the malware has manifested itself in your device, there is no guarantee that all of your data will be fully recovered. The aftermath of a malware attack can still leave remnants of your data floating around the internet.
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Spyware: Spyware can manifest itself into many different forms that can be difficult to identify. One of the most common forms of data collection hacks employ is keyword logging. This form of a security breach can over extended periods of time, every time a password or personal information is saved a hacker or spyware can retrieve your login information and use it for their own purposes. It is never recommended to autofill passwords or other sensitive data.
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Phishing Scams: To the untrained eye, phishing scams can appear to be legitimate emails, phone calls or even websites. Requesting authorization or verification of your data. Once your data has been released to the phishing scam you (or your company) can immediately become a victim of a data breach or identity theft. And the process of retrieving information can be quite extensive and time-consuming process and the data may never be fully recovered.
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Identity Theft: Identity theft is not exclusive to individuals, the identity of a company can be comprised if the data falls into the wrong hands.
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Client information leaks: This type of security breach can be the most detrimental to not only the company but to the clients who trusted the company with their personal information. Aside from security breach of client information, a company with a compromised identity can face severe financial repercussions, such as loss of revenue and clients, bankruptcy and potential class action lawsuits.
Benefits of Hiring Security Risk Management Consultants:
- Train Employees on data safety:
By choosing to employ a security risk management consultant you can significantly reduce the numerous amount security risks in cyberspace that threaten the company, it’s clients and employees. A risk consultant can effectively train employees on how to identify security risks; potential red flags, how to choose the best antivirus software and finally create a plan of action in case of a data breach in the company.
- Enhance digital security for the company:
Along with training the company staff on security risks, An experienced consultant can discuss different types of antivirus and anti-malware software that best suits the needs of the company as well as implementing an effective firewall system.
- Preventative measures for data or security breaches:
Security breaches are a company’s worst nightmare. The possibility of losing encrypted data and the exposure of client information has the potential to destroy a business that took years to build. A risk security consultant can help create a plan of action to prevent or reduce the possibility of a security breach. Along with creating a preventive plan, a consultant will create a contingency plan in case of emergency and will employ the assistance of a data forensic expert to determine how the security breach actually occurred. Security breaches can occur for a variety of reasons some of which include, internal leaks and mismanagement of data or fraud.
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Assess the company’s stance on matters of data agreements and cyber security information:
One of the most important aspects of running an effective business is ensuring that all data belonging to both the company and it’s clients is regulated frequently. And meets the standards required by each state, federal laws and even international relations. If a company does not comply with these regulations, severe consequences can result for the company such as lawsuits and loss of revenue.
Some of the most important compliance laws that must be regulated frequently are:
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(FACTA) Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act- this act was set in place to protect consumers from identity theft that resulted from trusting a company with their data.
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(FERPA) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, this is put in place to protect students in educational institutions.
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(FISMA) Federal Information Security Management Act, this requires all federal agencies to have a comprehensive information security plan in place to protect the data of consumers and all parties affected by this data.
These regulations are not exclusive to the Sarbanes Oxley Act and individual state security regulations.
Security risk management is one of the most important elements of running an effective business or corporation. Protecting the information of your company and clients should be your number one priority. If you want to ensure that your data is protected consider employing a security risk management consultant to assist you in creating a comprehensive plan to ensure your company’s data is secure from any invasive threats.