How to Protect Your Data and Your Network

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There’s no denying it: The most valuable thing on your computer or network is your data. Without it, there’s really not even a reason to have the thing in the first place. You go to lengths to create and store that data, and when you lose it, you go to even greater lengths to recover it. But what can you be doing beforehand to protect your data and your network before panic mode sets in?

Monitor your network

It’s not just about keeping your data protected: It’s about keeping your entire network secure and stable. The healthier your network, the less likely it’ll fail, resulting in a full blown data loss.

Network monitoring companies, like iGLASS Networks whose NOC services provide 24/7 coverage of your networks, servers and critical applications, are a better choice if you need something more robust and don’t have the time to do the manual upkeep yourself. Your downtime will be reduced, and more often than not, they can spot minor bugs quickly to prevent them from escalating into bigger problems that could result in a system crash.

Enhance your security

If you goal is to keep other people out of your data, you need to keep it secure. Set permissions on your files and folders to control who can access what. If multiple people share the same computer, use NTFS permissions to grant access on an individual level.

If you need further security on the file level, add a password to each of your documents. This isn’t a fail-safe method, so if you’re attempting to thwart off hackers, you’ll need to put in place other security setting because they could be easily to crack.

If you’re sending and receiving data, you also need to increase its security in transit. Having secure wireless networks and using IP security will keep help keep it confidential.

Back it up early and often

No matter the lengths you go to protecting your data and your computer, the fact of the matter is that things break. Computers die; laptops get stolen; networks crash. Things just happen. And the best medicine for security is keeping records and copies of your data external to all of your devices. PC Mag has a great list of online backup services that will host your information far away from the originals so if something does happen that wipes our entire building, your copies are protected. How often you should backup will vary based off the complexity and the amount of your data. If you’re working with files that change consistently, you’ll want to back up at least every night.

Protecting your data isn’t an all eggs in one basket tactic. Just securing your files and folders or just having network monitoring isn’t going to prevent your data from ever been lost. The best solution will be covering your bases across the board so you’re not relying too strongly on one because what would happen if that fails, too?

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