Jessica Doering
April 8, 2024
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3
min reading time
How can businesses ensure their data is secure with ISO 27001
Data security. This term comes up all the time. Data security is discussed everywhere, even at birthday parties or when you have the best seats at hockey or basketball games. There are always short conversations on the subject of data security, while the referee has once again whistled nonsense and you have time to wildly present via Instagram where you are and with whom! Data Privacy…?
Classic, but it is not about social media outcry today, even if this is a very interesting topic with two sides of the coin!
Back to Data Security of businesses! It’s a thing!
The Internet is exploding in data volumes, partly due to the improved quality of documents, which means that file sizes are also increasing.
Studies from 2020 said that by 2025 data volumes are expected to be 181 zettabytes in size. However, that was in 2020 and anyone who can count to 5 can guess that this figure of "181 zettabytes" will probably be significantly "exceeded" in 2025 by the exponential development of the network and all the associated components.
Fun fact: 1 zettabyte = 931 322 574 615.48 gigabytes. Sounds like a couple of data, what the sun burns up weekly... or the number of breaths a person who reaches 92 years of age takes.
And this data should ideally be protected as well! Okay, let's see what companies can do as measures here....
How ISO 27001 certification helps with data protection
Data security is a major concern for businesses of all sizes, and protecting sensitive information. One way companies can ensure the security of their data is by adopting ISO 27001.
ISO 27001 is an international standard for information security management systems (ISMS). It provides organizations with a framework for managing and protecting their sensitive data, including customer data, financial information and confidential business data.
ISO 27001 certification demonstrates that a company has a comprehensive set of policies, procedures and controls in place to protect its data.
So how can companies ensure their data is secure with ISO 27001?
Key steps to ensure data security with ISO 27001
1. Identify your information assets: The first step in protecting your data is to identify all of the information assets within your organization, including digital and physical information. This will help you understand what information is sensitive and needs to be protected.
2. Assess the risks: Once you have identified your information assets, you need to assess the risks to those assets. This includes identifying potential threats, vulnerabilities, and the impact of a security breach.
3. Develop a security plan: Based on the risk assessment, you can develop a comprehensive security plan that includes policies, procedures, and controls to protect your information assets. This plan should be tailored to the specific needs of your business and should address all potential risks.
4. Implement the plan: Once you have developed your security plan, it's time to implement it. This includes training your employees on the policies and procedures, as well as implementing technical controls to protect your data.
5. Monitor and review: Data security is an ongoing process, and it's important to continually monitor and review your security measures to ensure they are effective. This includes conducting regular security audits, reviewing policies and procedures, and staying up-to-date with the latest security threats and best practices.
By following these steps, organizations can ensure that their data is secure and protected from potential security breaches. It's not just about a company's internal understanding of how to handle data responsibly.... Implementing ISO 27001 is thus a great way to show customers and stakeholders that you take data security seriously and have comprehensive measures in place to protect sensitive information.
Another aspect that makes companies think and fits well with the theme of this blog:
How can I ensure that my business's data is backed up and recoverable in the event of a disaster or cyber attack?
With the majority of companies moving their operations online (especially since the COVID years), the importance of data backup and recovery cannot be overstated. If you accidentally delete a picture of your beautiful thriving garden in a private context, you almost get a heart attack... What does it do to you when whole databases of business transactions have disappeared into nirvana or even find use in another place?
Data loss can be caused by a variety of events. Cyber attacks, hardware failures, user errors, and yes, natural disasters. Therefore, a solid backup and recovery plan, which is implemented as a key element in ISO 27001, can be crucial to your company's survival in the event of such an incident.
Key steps to ensure that data is backed up and recoverable
1. Identify Your Most Important Data: The first step in creating a data backup and recovery plan is to identify the most important data that your business relies on. This may include financial records, customer data, and proprietary software. Once you know what data is most critical, you can prioritize your backup efforts accordingly.
2. Choose Your Backup Strategy: There are several backup strategies you can choose from, including local backups (e.g., external hard drives), cloud backups (e.g., using services like Google Drive or Dropbox), and hybrid backups (a combination of both). Each strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it's important to choose the one that best fits your business's needs and budget.
3. Automate Your Backups: Backing up your data regularly is important, but it's also easy to forget to do so. Automating your backups can ensure that your data is backed up on a regular basis without requiring manual intervention.
4. Test Your Backups: Simply backing up your data is not enough - you also need to make sure that your backups are recoverable. Regularly testing your backups can help you identify any issues and ensure that your data can be restored in the event of a disaster.
5. Develop a Disaster Recovery Plan: In the event of a disaster or cyber attack, you need to have a plan in place for recovering your data and getting your business back up and running. This plan should include steps for restoring data from backups, identifying the cause of the incident, and preventing similar incidents from occurring in the future.
6. Keep Your Backup and Recovery Plan Up to Date: Your business's data and technology infrastructure are likely to evolve over time, so it's important to revisit your backup and recovery plan on a regular basis to ensure that it remains effective. This may involve updating your backup strategy, testing your backups on a regular basis, or revising your disaster recovery plan.
In summary, data backup and recovery is an important aspect of any company's technological infrastructure. ISO 27001 is therefore the best choice to manage this task, continuously ensuring that your company's data is backed up and recoverable in the event of a disaster or cyberattack.
Book a consultation with us. With the help of ISO 27001, we assist you in handling data and information responsibly and also in using them for your business growth!
