According to a recent survey by the Hartford as many as 85 per cent of small businesses are of the belief that a data breach is not likely. Many SMBs have deployed simple security measures to protect their customer and employee data. As per the survey, the enterprises followed eight best practices as enumerated below:
- Locking and securing customer, patent or employee data – 49%
- Denying employees’ access to sensitive data – 79%
- Safe disposal of customer, patent or employee data- 53%
- Protection of passwords and data encryption – 48 %
- Having an appropriate private policy – 44%
- Updating systems and software regularly – 47%
- Using firewalls to control and lock-out hackers – 48%
- Ensuring remote access to their company’s network is secure – 41%
The survey also found that 61% of business owners believe a data breach violates trust among customers and would endanger their relationship with all involved in business, 38% have negative opinion of companies that have recently had breach, 34% of the business owners would have difficulty in going with government notifications requirements, and 47% are of the view that it is impossible for small business to completely safeguard customer, patient or employee data.