Tuesday Tips: The Importance of Strong Passwords and Data Encryption Technology

Don Miller

As we head into week four of our participation in Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it is time again for bTrade’s Tuesdays Tips .  This week’s cybersecurity tips are centered on showcasing what “businesses can do to protect their organization, customers, and employees.”  For the purpose of this blog and its readership, we will focus on two such tips:  the importance of strong passwords, and using encryption technologies for data in-transit.

First Tuesday Tip:  Require that employees use strong passwords and regularly change them.

It seems we can’t go a week without a new data security breach occurring somewhere in the public and or private sector.   By now, we should all know the importance of using strong passwords and the need to change them on a regular basis.  What employees and enterprises are still surprised to find out about is the level of sophistication of hackers and what they will do all in their pursuit to gain access to valuable corporate data and assets.

Back In 2012, MFT Nation submitted a post entitled: Are Your Passwords Secure?  This post not only details the importance of strong passwords and how critical it is to change them on a regular basis, but it also gives examples and guidance on best practices.

Second Tuesday Tip:  Use encryption technologies to protect data in-transit.

Companies and employees that follow strict password guidelines and best practices can still be at jeopardy for a data breach if they don’t use encryption technologies to safeguard their data.  Encryption technologies will not prevent hackers from gaining access to your data, but it would make the data unreadable if they do not have access to the encryption key.   Companies should also take steps to protect their encryption key, which means keeping keys separate from the data.

bTrade Can Help

It takes but one misstep to open the doors to a data breach.   Protect your organization by using strong passwords and deploying a data encryption solution that can securely and effectively transmit, store and manage confidential data at-rest and in-motion.  Please email us at info@btrade.com to learn how bTrade solutions can help keep your data secure.