Many of the top studies of data breaches point to employee error as a leading cause of data loss. Breaches can occur through employee error as a result of things as simple as not shredding secure information, clicking a bad link in an email, falling victim to a phishing scam, or even sending secure information to the wrong person via email. Even if these things are done unintentionally, they can still lead to large-scale breaches which can be harmful to your customers and clients, your employees, and your business reputation. As you are educating your employees about the importance of information security and your specific processes, we have put together some good points to cover.

WHAT ARE YOUR INFORMATION SECURITY POLICIES

Employees cannot be active on the front lines of information security if they do not know the policies you have put into place to help them. Ensuring that your employees are familiar with and know how to implement your policies will go a long way in helping to prevent future breaches. As you are educating your employees on these policies, it’s important to highlight items including:

• How to secure digital information
• Best practices for validating security of digital information transfers
• How to secure paper records
• How long to keep items in active files (digital and paper)
• How to securely archive information (digital and paper)
• How long to keep archived records (digital and paper)
• The process for securely destroying secure information (digital and paper)
• Password security and best practices
• Ability to recognize phishing and social engineering attacks

As you begin to make a case for investing in regular information security training for employees, Cox Blue states the importance of getting executives on board. To do this, you need to emphasize the importance in terms they can understand. Be clear about how data breaches and cyber attacks can affect the bottom line. Put a price on everything possible including losing data to the potential liabilities for leaking customer information. For example, in 2018, the global average cost of a data breach was $3.86 million, landing at $148 per stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information.

WHY DO YOU HAVE INFORMATION SECURITY POLICIES IN PLACE

It is equally important for employees to understand WHAT the policies are, as it is for them to understand WHY the policies exist. Share data and information about the rise in data breaches and what is at risk for your organization if a breach occurs. Information security doesn’t just cover client information or payment records, it can also extend to employee records. This includes records such as healthcare benefits information, retirement savings information, and other identifying information in their employee files. Working to protect security across the board helps everyone, both internally and customer-facing.

KNOW THE CURRENT INFORMATION SECURITY RISKS

As they say, the best offense is a good defense and good defenses are built on knowing your opponent and dissecting their plan of attack. In terms of information security, this means staying up to date on HOW breaches are happening and what some of the most common threats are to businesses like yours. A great way to educate your employees on these items is through monthly or quarterly updates and reminders. Keeping information security and security risks top of mind will help your employees stay alert to… “phishy” behaviors.

With the increase of digital information and more employees working from home, the volume of data breaches is higher than ever. Use these ‘Tips for Combating Information Security Risks’ to start protecting your business today. One recent breach that your organization may be able to learn from is the attack of the Colonial Pipeline. 

EDUCATE YOUR EMPLOYEES ON INFORMATION SECURITY BEST PRACTICES

In addition to knowing the risks, your employees should know what steps they should be taking in day-to-day operations to protect information. How should they handle paper waste? What files need to be password protected? What are the best practices for creating secure passwords? It’s also important, in our digital age, to remind employees that these best practices don’t just exist for desktop and workstation security, they also extend to mobile devices where you might store or share proprietary information. So, educate them on the importance of securing those devices, only working on secure networks, and always leaving them in a safe place, never out in the open or unattended. 

Make sure your employee education includes password security training and best practices, how to recognize phishing and social engineering attacks, and “live fire” practice attacks. For more information about each of these, read more here. 

Making cybersecurity awareness a priority is a key to educating your employees. Consider including a section in regular company-wide communications like ‘cybersecurity in the news’. Many cybersecurity attacks are not covered in the media and knowledge of recent attacks may help employees understand the importance and ways they can prevent breaches. According to the Keeper Security and Ponemon Institute 2018 “State of Cybersecurity” report, two-thirds of SMBs have suffered a cyberattack in the past twelve months. In the Keeper Security and Ponemon Institute 2020 “Cybersecurity in the Remote Work Era: A Global Risk Report”, only 43% of respondents say their organizations currently inform and educate remote workers about the risks of remote working. This report also found that US organizations were 2nd most likely to have an attack that specifically leverages COVID-19 as a threat factor and only 36% of US respondents said their organization had the necessary in-house expertise to manage and mitigate cybersecurity risks caused by teleworking. This makes the US a larger target for cybersecurity attacks. 

With more employees working from home, it is important to have specific guidelines set for information that is stored or viewed outside of company property. This includes digital records that can be accessed or stored on personal networks and the accumulation of paper files outside of the office. Read more about how remote working affects information security. 

HOW TO EDUCATE YOUR EMPLOYEES ON INFORMATION MANAGEMENT POLICIES

Incorporate your cyber security training as a part of the onboarding process. What better way to emphasize the importance of these policies than to cover them at the beginning? Cox Blue states: “Password security, phishing, and social engineering attacks—all of it needs to be covered from day one. Most critically, make sure you’re not just going over the rules but also explaining why these best practices are so important.”

When training your employees on your compliance policies, follow these 5 steps from Navex Global.

Regularly Educate Employees

Make sure to re-communicate policies to employees after the initial education. Micro learning and quizzes are a good way to assess how well employees have retained policy information.

Send Gentle Reminders

Online compliance training programs can be a great way to let employees educate themselves at their convenience. This also gives insights to managers which employees are caught up on training and provides opportunities to share encouragement about staying up-to-date. 

Take Action

Be sure to enforce policies or re-train employees if or when policies are ignored or misused. This ensures a stable reputation and encourages employees to remain compliant if they see there are consequences to breaking protocol. 

Explain the Steps

Be transparent with your team about the “whys” of policy training and management. Explaining the steps that were taken and why will help employees remember policies. Make sure employees are able to easily find and refer back to original policies and procedures. 

Re-Educate Changes

Policies can become outdated or irrelevant quickly. It is important to re-educate employees when changes in policy occur. 

WHAT TO DO IF A INFORMATION SECURITY BREACH OCCURS

No one wants to plan for a security breach, but having a plan in place to stop the breach as soon as you can and begin to clean up immediately will go a long way in preventing extensive damage or loss of data in the process. Your employees should know who to contact in the event of the breach and what the steps are to report it and contain it, as well as what steps to take to alert customers when the time comes.

Make sure to use this as an opportunity to educate and inform your employees, not blame them for mistakes. While it may be true that the data breach is from an employee clicking the wrong thing, don’t blame an individual for not having the right knowledge. Instead take responsibility as an organization to better inform your employees.

As a business owner or manager it’s important to know and understand the vital role that your employees play in protecting secure information. They are the front lines of defense when it comes to ensuring that your data is protected since they handle and interact with it each and every day. Keeping them informed and educated on processes, risks, and simple steps they can take to protect secure information will go a long way in maintaining security across your organization.

As a CSRA leader in secure storage and destruction, Augusta Data Storage has been providing off-site storage for your records, and other media storage for over 25 years. In addition, we are equipped to provide secure destruction for your outdated paper records and end of life digital devices to ensure your private information stays private.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can partner with you to develop a secure records management process – 706.793.0186.

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It’s hard to believe that we are already half way through the year. It’s not unusual for a lot of those business goals and objectives we set in January to take a backseat to the everyday tasks that your business requires; but mid-year is a great time to check-in and get back on track. When it comes to securing your records, it’s important to realize that this isn’t a once a year task, but something your organization should be focusing on each and every day.

If you feel like your document security efforts have gotten off track throughout the first half of the year, we’re here to help you do a mid-year check-in and start planning and implementing your document security processes for the final quarters of 2018.

ROUTINE DOCUMENT SECURITY PROCESSES

As we said previously, document security is a continuous effort by all members of your organization to ensure that records are properly used, stored, and disposed of in your day-to-day operations.  If you don’t have a document management system in place, here are a few routine things you can implement in your office to ensure you are taking the appropriate precautions to protect information.

ESTABLISH RETENTION REQUIREMENTS:

Make sure that your employees and staff know what records are required to be kept and for how long. In addition, make sure your retention requirements outline how they should be stored and secured.

SETUP SECURE STORAGE AREAS:

If you are storing items on-site make sure that your storage areas have restricted access or that your filing cabinets remain locked and there is an active list of people who have access to those areas. This helps you keep a pulse on who is accessing information and when.

ESTABLISH SECURE DESTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS

In addition to your document retention requirements, you should also outline those items that require secure destruction. We often recommend shredding as much of your office paper waste as possible. This ensures that no items are lost or forgotten and allows you some extra peace of mind that your documents are being securely handled.

SCHEDULE SECURE SHREDDING SERVICES:

To alleviate the stress of your employees tracking and managing document destruction in-house, we recommend working with a certified secure shredding partner, like Augusta Data Storage, to help you manage and track your document destruction.

Augusta Data Storage provides secure, locked, collection bins where employees can deposit papers for shredding. The bins remain locked until their scheduled service date, to help limit access to the information inside. On service day, the bins are collected, and emptied into our secure shred-truck and shredded. You will receive a certificate of destruction for your records which details the chain of custody and serves as proof of destruction for your records.

BEGIN PREPARING FOR YEAR-END DOCUMENT SECURITY NEEDS:

While regular maintenance and security measures are important, it’s also time to start thinking about those annual and bi-annual tasks that sometimes sneak up on you. As a part of your document management policy, you should have information regarding the requirements for archiving records, as well as a purge schedule for outdated records. For example, if you archive records at the end of each year and keep them for a period of 5 years, here are some things to keep in mind in the final months of this year:

FILE ARCHIVING

As you prepare to archive your records and move them from your active file storage area, you will want to plan a time to sort the items that need to be relocated and then find time to box, log, and store them so that you are able to access them later, if needed. If you are short on space for some of your older records, Augusta Data Storage offers off-site secure record storage solutions with 24/7 retrieval access, climate controlled storage for temperature sensitive items, and NARA compliant storage for records requiring those specifications.

FILE PURGING

In addition to archiving your records, you will want to plan a time to sort through your records from 5 years ago, so that you can schedule a bulk purge of those documents when you are ready to remove them from your archived storage space.

The post Your Document Security Mid-Year Check-Up appeared first on Augusta Data Storage.

FACILITY CONSTRUCTION:
94.1 Tons of Steel were used to construct our new facility, with the heaviest structural frame weighing in at 10,957lbs.

Because of the weight of the steel, a reinforced concrete pad was poured as a part of our building’s foundation. This pad used over 640 cubic yards of concrete and 5,550 lbs. of rebar to help reinforce the slab.

INTERIOR SPACES:

Inside the building you will find a conference room and large training room, 5 office spaces, and work stations for an additional 12 employees.

Through the office area, you can access our NARA compliant warehouse – a space outfitted with 270 Uprights composed of 3,900+ beams. This new facility has space for 154,000 of our standard 1.2 cu ft. record storage boxes.

SAFETY & SECURITY FEATURES:

In order to maintain our NARA compliance, our facility has to meet an extensive list of requirements. Some of the highlights include:

• A fire suppression system comprised of 270 ESFR (Early Suppression Fast Response) Sprinkler Heads.
• Monitored restricted entry access to all of our storage and shredding facilities
• 16 internal/external cameras to monitor activity in and around the facility.
• Location above a 100 year flood plain
• Building structure and racking designed and approved by a structural engineer
• Fire Safety systems designed and approved by a fire safety engineer

ENERGY SAVING FEATURES:

To help lower the energy use of our building, we made several upgrades throughout the construction process, including adding higher rated insulation in the warehouse spaces, and installing motion sensor lights to prevent unnecessary energy use when no one is working inside the warehouse facility.

The post A Look Inside our NARA Compliant Records Storage Facility appeared first on Augusta Data Storage.

As theft of personal or financial information continues to grown, so does the importance of protecting the private information of your business or organization, which is why we want to share 5 easy tips with you today to help keep your records secure.

STEP 1: Develop a Record Retention Policy

Having a plan in place will help to ensure that all employees know how digital and paper information should be treated. Outline Items that need to be securely stored, including how long they should be stored. Additionally, include the process for destroying both paper and digital records at the end of their useful life.

STEP 2:  Make sure digital AND physical storage is secure and monitored.

For physical records, ensure they are kept in locked cabinets or rooms whose access are regularly monitored. Digital records add an additional layer of security risk, as they can be accessed by people NOT inside your building. Its important to ensure your servrers are secure and monitored regularly and that employees use safe passwords which are regularly updated.

STEP 3: Implement a Clean Desk Policy

Encourage your employees to keep papers properly filed and stored away and to keep computers locked, and items like laptops, tablets, and external hard drives locked away when not in use. Limiting easy-access to information is an easy way to add an extra barrier of protection.

STEP 4: Shred EVERYTHING

The easiest way to protect yourself is to shred everything. Don’t wonder whether or not papers are safe to toss in the trash. This goes for electronics too! Did you know you can shred hard drives and other electronic devices? It’s the most secure way to protect the information on your end of life electronics, and we can help!

STEP 5: Educate your team!

Education is important, and making sure all your employees are on the same page about record security expectations and the reasons they are important will help protect your information. Many studies point to employee error as one of the leading causes of information breaches, so make sure they have the tools to help protect your organization!

Implementing these 5 tips should have you well on your way to creating extra barriers of security for the private information your business handles! If you thought these tips were helpful let us know by liking this or sharing it with your friends. Here’s an extra bonus tip! Trust the experts! From secure record storage to document and electronic waste destruction, Augusta Data Storage provides an all-in-one solution for your document security needs. If you’d like to know more about us or are looking for help with your records management processes, call us today at 706.793.0186, or visit us online at AugustaDataStorage.com to learn more.

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