Information Security Tips for Your Contracting Business

When you run a contracting business, you’ll rely on a lot of electronic information. Construction as a field is slow to innovate, but you might be surprised how much you use devices and tools to access financial information, project plans, and more. That means you’ll need to protect it. Here are a few tips to help keep your data in the right hands.

Keep Offsite Backups
Although you may never need to use a backup of a file, it’s always good to have a system in place. Specifically, you should have a plan to keep backups in more than one location, in case one of your backups fails. It’s common to back up some of your files to a hard drive, and you can even set up your computer to do this for you automatically. If you’re not already using storage in the Cloud, now is a good time to investigate your options. There are a lot of choices that are relatively affordable, from major sites like Amazon, and they will help to protect your data so that you don’t have to figure out how to do it yourself.

Plan for Device Theft
No one wants to lose a device at a client site or out of a construction vehicle, but it happens on occasion. The last thing that you need is to have your computer stolen, only to realize that you had a lot of sensitive company data on it that would be easy to find and exploit. Assume that this kind of thing could happen at some point, and act accordingly. Encrypt your important files on your computer with a password that isn’t easily available on that computer. Keep your files in more than one place, so that if you lose a number of devices at your workspace, you’re not left without records.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication
A lot of websites have shifted to multi-factor authentication as a way of gaining access to your account. Multi-factor authentication requires you to use more than one method in order to log in. For example, you might have to provide a password and then add a six-digit code that the system sends to a phone number on the account. If you have the option to set up multi-factor authentication for your business accounts, take advantage of it. Make sure that the contact information isn’t something that someone could easily get a hold of if they had access to your computer or business email.

Stay Updated on Phishing Scams
Anyone who reaches adulthood has probably had multiple opportunities to see a phishing scam in action. Sometimes, they seem laughably fake. At other times, they can appear disturbingly real. It’s a good idea to periodically investigate the latest phishing scams and make sure that you know the best ways to avoid them. For example, spear-phishing is one of the most common and effective types of scams. It relies on the use of some piece of information that increases your level of trust, such as the email address of someone in your company. Talk through these types of scams with everyone at your business, so that they are aware of what to look for.

When in Doubt, Double-Check
Ultimately, information security isn’t just a matter of technological savvy or intelligence. Scammers often rely on people to be distracted or hurried. When you’re trying to get something else done, you might accidentally click on a link in an email, when you wouldn’t otherwise. But in some cases, that’s all it takes to get access to your sensitive business information. Most of the time, it’s better to assume that you could get scammed at any time. If you’re not sure when to trust what you read, use another method to find out the information.

Information security is something that you’ll need to learn how to maintain for your contracting business. For more tips on how you can prepare to be a business owner, visit CSLS today!