EU GDPR has changed many things for remote employee desktop monitoring software businesses in the region. They don’t have the choice but to take data protection more seriously than ever before. Data theft & security breaches can have a ripple effect on your company. Beyond reputational damage, your company may be fined up to 4% of annual turnover (or Euro 20 million) – whichever is more under GDPR. Digitalization may seem like a necessary evil, but businesses have to figure out a way to balance the challenges that come with it. So, how can your company reduce risks of data breaches? Here is a quick guide to the basics.
- Invest in access governance. Everyone talks a lot about the consequences of noncompliance, but not many companies are focused on the need for appropriate access governance. Investing in IAM systems (short for Identity & Access Management) is not a choice anymore. Make sure to have a transparent platform to understand and overview, as to who has access to what resources, applications, and critical systems at a given point and time.
- Train your employees. A considerable number of security breaches can be traced back to internal users, and your company must manage insider threats. For that, employees have to be trained. They need to know about the best practices and how they can protect data and systems.
- Check for unused accounts. Many user accounts are unused but often exist. These are often the points that hackers are looking for. Use the IAM suite to revoke all rights of employees who leave the organization, and also all accounts that have no users or owners.
- Create a system. When it comes to access rights, everything has to be recorded and stored in an auditable manner, and this is a must when it comes to GDPR and general GRC processes for you company compliance. Make sure that your company has complete control on access rights, and keep a watch on how various accounts are being used.
- Watch the privileged users. Super users, admins, IT heads, and other privilege users need to be checked for their access rights. You would want to grant rights to only those resources that are required, and there should be no secrecy. Make it a point to let these users know of their roles, responsibilities, and how their action can have consequences.
Data breaches and security lapses caused by employees are not always deliberate, but as a company, you have to watch access management more seriously than ever!
