Earlier, we mentioned about building a fortress around your clients’ data in a physical sense: maintaining a secure worksite, whether your operations are down the block or overseas; using company-owned equipment; deploying your IT team to the watch towers; and creating a culture of information security company-wide. For this one, let’s get digital.
After all, the digital domain is where pretty much all the information you need when you’re working up a business valuation resides. In the olden days, we had to worry about fires and floods and bad actors stealing boxes of actual files; today, it’s hacks, breaches, ransomware, systems failures, and glitches. And protecting against these disasters is tough.
Unless you’re a cyber security ninja on the side, you’re probably going to need expert help setting up and maintaining your digital fortress. Sensitive client data needs encryption, for instance—end-to-end, if you’re not storing it on an in-house server (even then, end-to-end encryption isn’t a bad idea). Regulatory standards and privacy expectations must be met. Cyber security threats continue to evolve, and defenses have to be updated accordingly.
(By “updated accordingly,” by the way, we mean both “accordingly” and “constantly.” Cyber security isn’t something you put in place then kick back and watch it run. You keep running with it, or just ahead of it, looking behind you, forward, and side to side. Cyber security is a verb, not a noun.)
Keeping client data secure requires a complex, highly technical, multi-pronged approach. We can tell you how we handle these responsibilities for our clients and help you think through your own security risks.