7 Ways To Protect Your Data & Online Reputation
Resolve to protect your Online Reputation in 2012! 7 Ways To Protect Your Data & Online Reputation by Lisa Santora bit.ly/IPORM1
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) January 12, 2012
Low Tech Lapses Pose Greatest Threat to Data Security
At first glance you might think that technological lapses pose the greatest threat to your data and online reputation. In reality, insider criminal acts and human error are greater dangers. No matter how many technological defenses a company uses, your ultimate security comes down to the awareness, vigilance and common sense exercised by each and every person in an organization.
No one can guarantee that people won’t make mistakes or try to steal or misuse data; that’s impossible. Everyone in the company has equal potential to safeguard and threaten your reputation.
You can mitigate risk by instituting the steps in this checklist into your security routines.
1) Write and enforce a social media policy. Social Media is not going away and a policy for it is an important first step to ensuring that sensitive and potentially damaging information doesn’t reach the wrong hands and damage your company’s reputation.
2) Discuss with employees how they are transporting and accessing company data. Working on the road and working virtually means your company’s data takes many forms and is present on a multitude of devices. Inventory where your company’s data resides and take steps to keep it secure.
3) Don’t rely on email spam filters to weed out all dangerous emails. If it looks suspicious don’t open it and don’t click any links.
4) IT workers are not the only stopgap for security breaches. Every employee is responsible and expected to contribute to the company’s overall data and reputation protection.
5) Twitter, Facebook and forum posts about company issues: Less is more. Keep company inside information off the social networks. That should be obvious. Use internal communication tools like Yammer for private discussions.
6) If you suspect unusual activity that may threaten the company’s reputation, report it immediately. A seemingly small issue can actually be the tip of a much larger security iceberg.
7) If you wonder if you should; don’t. Keep this statement in mind whenever you aren’t sure if you should open an email, click a link, spread the word — caution is better than regret.
It takes only one small misstep for someone to provide access to sensititve data and start a chain reaction that is much harder to clean up than it is to prevent.
Here at Intrapromote we have experience building and protecting online reputations. We encourage you to make a New Year’s Resolution for 2012 to start a program that can make your company look its best when someone searches for you online.
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Our Freshest Newsroom Award contest is rapidly drawing to a close! We’re sending out the call for nominations and the winner gets…A Virtual Fresh Blue Ribbon for most user-friendly and creatively designed online newsroom. Send your nominations to lisa@intrapromote.com by January 19. I have one remaining contestant I will nominate, but your recommendations are welcome. Let’s make this final week of the contest rock and get some more newsrooms into the mix!
