Essay Example on Business knowledge is a critical Resource

Introduction Business knowledge is a critical resource attributed to the success of any organization Today businesses rely on constant data capture to positively drive market research increase sales and create a competitive edge for the organization The volume of data collected by an individual company can appear immeasurable as it is common for one businesses data pool to double in size every 18 months Brown 2011 Simply put businesses have a great deal of information to protect both for their customers privacy and the protection of valuable company knowledge Breaches in data have the potential to be catastrophic to an enterprise leading to financial loss irreversible brand damage and future organizational instability Cheng 2017 Some companies spend millions of dollars each year on security and protection as a way of data breach prevention but as recent large scale data losses have indicated there is more that companies can be doing to protect their valuable information According to the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems approximately eighty to ninety percent of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies have experienced data breaches Shaw 2010 Therefore it is imperative for business leaders to establish solid and effective data breach prevention to safeguard against both internal and external vulnerabilities that could leave their company open to threats Data Breach Examples and Preventions 

It is important for companies to recognize that data threats can be internal and external as well as accidental or intentional Intentional threats can come in several forms such as data theft from intruders or sabotage from inside attackers Cheng 2017 while unintentional threats are accidental and usually caused by human error A study by Verizon found that human error contributed to 44 of data breaches Teymourlouei 2016 A similar Intel study showed nearly identical figures stating internal employees attributed to 43 of data leakage and half of those were accidental Cheng 2017 To help reduce these figures there are a couple straightforward methods of prevention The first method is to ensure that employees have strong passwords in place Hackers can easily break into a computer that is not protected by a password that contains a combination of letters numbers and special characters Teymourlouei 2016 Passwords should be changed often and be dissimilar to previous passwords to ensure that protection remains constant In addition to password protection it would behoove business leadership to require that all company files and data transfers be encrypted thus providing another line of defense against data theft For example if an employee sends the wrong file to a customer the risk of information leak would be downsized if the file were to be encrypted or had limited accessibility 

This is increasingly more important as more people are opting to work from home or in other remote locations that can suffer from an unprotected wifi server Operating from an open server leaves web information accessible to hackers and other nosey parties Furthermore unintentional human error can occur when staff are poorly educated on security protocol and procedures Teymourlouei 2016 Leadership should take the time to orient their staff with the business set standard of security decorum To prevent accidental data leaks in addition to technological means it is very important to increase user security awareness in the workplace Cheng 2017 To further mitigate potential data threats companies should set in place a data leak prevention and detection DLPD system DLPD is a method of detecting vulnerabilities in addition to monitoring company resources Cheng 2017 Preventative technology such as DLPD can monitor how the information is being used and trigger alerts when policies are being violated Beeskow 2015 For example if an employee sends an email that is detected to contain sensitive information the DLPD tech will alert them to their error 

Additionally vulnerability management systems can examine networks and devices to pinpoint weaknesses that need to be addressed before they can be exploited Teymourlouei 2016 Overall the integration of data leak prevention and detection software is essential for organizations for early detections of threats The software almost acts as a hacker itself in order to find the areas of weakness and plug the holes before the threat of real hackers can become a legitimate problem Conclusion In the era of mass data usage it is exceedingly challenging for companies to protect business knowledge There are a number of ways that a business can be vulnerable to data breaches Often businesses are finding that the threats to data privacy are among their own personnel These internal threats though often unintentional can be detrimental to the financial stability and longevity of a company That is why it is pertinent for business leaders to implement a strict set of rules and regulations to prevent accidental leaks and promote security knowledge throughout all aspects of the company Proper education leads to well informed employees who know that treating company assets with care is essential for profitability and long term company growth In addition to this social engineering the application of vulnerability detection software can create a protective barrier between information and those seeking to misuse it DLPD technology software can detect threats early as well as act as a reinforcement of regulations for employees if they are unintentionally leaving sensitive information open to a breach While no one security system can shield against all attacks there is inherent value in setting up several methods against data breaches to protect a company from a crucial protection failure and loss of valuable resources