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Dominick Fair

Dominick Fair

Chief Technology Officer

Data Integrity Checklist for your Business

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Information in today’s modern technological era is constantly growing in value. Digital currency is skyrocketing in value and the price of your data is simultaneously increasing as well. With this in mind, your precious data resource needs to be protected and secure. Data Integrity is now a prime concern for every single business and IT department. In this article, we will provide a Data Integrity Checklist for your Business.


Definition of Data Integrity:

Data Integrity is the maintenance of, and the assurance of the accuracy and consistency of, data over its life-cycle, and is a critical aspect to the design, implementation and usage of any system which stores, processes, or retrieves data.

In today’s internet definition, data integrity is referring to databases and servers, since this is where almost all of the world’s cyber information is stored.

There are three variables of data integrity, which include:

  • The Data can be audited

    • This means that the data stored can be audited anytime there have been any alterations or modifications. This allows for any threats, bugs, modifications or alterations to be detected. This is incredibly important when it comes to any organization or business. Any business needs to be able to track back to pinpoint any technology related issue.
  • The Data can be safely stored

    • When it comes to safe data storage, it is vital that any data that is stored is never altered or modified. The data should never be altered from it’s original format once stored. An example would be if a business stored customer information such as credit card information, social security numbers, addresses, etc. and it was safely stored in a database or server.
  • The Data can be securely transferred and communicated

    • Confidential and secure data information should always be communicated in a correct and secure method. This means that the data sent from a secure customer database containing all customer information should be communicated securely.

Data Integrity Checklist for your Business


There are a few ways data and information can be corrupted and become vulnerable. These methods include: Cyber Attacks, Technology errors, and also Security issues within the environment.

Ever since the world wide web has become widely available, cyber criminals have been trying to find ways to exploit the system.


Below you will find a checklist that your business can utilize to help protect and prevent your business from becoming victims of a Data Breach.


Educating your Business & Employees

All business data for any organization passes through the hands of the entity’s employees. With this in mind, Data integrity among the employees is absolutely vital. The employees are first in line when it comes to security and any security measures have to start with them.

One important security measure that must take place within any organization is that employees must be aware of their technology. Employees must be able to analyze and identify any signs of hacking. Signs of “Hacking” can be anything from file modification, logins that are not accounted for, files being tampered with, password changes, & more.

Secondly, file sharing of confidential information must be strictly monitored and controlled. This will ultimately prevent business’s employees from accessing the information that is not supposed to be accessible to other users.

Fortunately for the internet age, we can go online to learn more about how a business, maybe like yours, can can educate your employees.


Encrypting your Business’s Data

Encrypting your business’s data can help add an additional preventative measure to protecting your organization’s data. When encrypting your business’s data, sometimes it can come with a performance cost but is efficient in most cases.

When files have been acquired by a cyber attacker, encrypted files cannot be accessed unless the attacker has the decryption key.

This method of protection is efficient in the sense that when these files are somehow acquired (the files were either stolen through a cyber attack or the physical server was stolen), the cyber criminal can’t see the data until he decrypts the information.

The downside to data encryption is that if a cyber criminal were to acquire the a user’s logins through a cyber attack, the data would be able to be accessed through the user’s login. This would mean that the data encryption would simply be obsolete.


Limiting Access to your business’s system

There are many ways a hacker can maliciously acquire data that is stored on a computer or server. One of the simplest ways of stealing data is plugging in a USB right into the hardware. For this particular reason, server rooms and computers with valuable information is often secure and only available to a few trusted employees.

Your business’s sensitive data should be stored in a location that is safe and locked up. The servers and the racks should be bolted to the wall or floors. In addition, the room should be properly ventilated for cooling and temperature management.

Smaller businesses who do not have a server room should have their servers/databases near someone with the highest authority.

The person who has to handle your business’s important piece of hardware must be properly trained and know your business’s protocol when it comes to securing your business’s data.

At the end of the day, the importance of limiting access to this hardware can prevent the possibility of needing data recovery or technical support for your business.


Backing up your Business’s Data

Backing up your business’s data is extremely vital and can prevent your business from losing extremely important information. Every business should know to be consistent when it comes to backing up files. The one thing that prevents many business’s from doing this regularly is the cost and limit from the hardware itself. Investing in a second server for regular backups is often too just too pricey for smaller organizations.

Good news, there is less expensive way to go about backing up your businesses data. Cloud Backup Solutions.

It is important to find the right Cloud Backup Solution for your business. 

Click here to learn more about Cloud Backup Solutions.


Conclusion

When maintaining your Business’s Data and lifeline, it is absolutely vital that your business keeps up to date with modern technology. Always keep your technology safe and secure from cyber criminals and hackers. Learn more about how your business can become more protected by contacting us anytime.


As a Maryland Managed Service Provider, SADOS offers a team of IT professionals with a deep understanding of any IT-related function. SADOS welcomes you to contact us for a Free Business Consultation if you are interested in finding out more. Please do not hesitate to call, email, or simply stop by our office.


At SADOS, we strive to provide each and every business with a clear understanding of the level of services their business needs in order to be efficient, productive and successful.


Dominick Fair

Chief Technology Officer

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