Keep Your Business safe and Secure

Whether you’re the owner of a large investment company or you work alone, it’s vital to keep your business safe and secure. The increased use of IT, online and mobile technologies means every owner of an investment company has more security issues to deal with. However, there are many new technologies and strategies available today that make it much easier to reduce the threats that could affect your business. Below are some of the ways you can keep an investment company more secure.

Cloud-based Systems

The cloud is one of the biggest technical developments to affect modern businesses. The latest cloud investment systems, cloud tools and cloud storage systems are administered by a wide range of online security professionals who have the tools and experience required to deal with any serious issues that could affect the valuable data related to your business. Working with a cloud-based systems provider in this way is much safer and more secure than having to look after your own IT systems.

Reliable Mobile Systems

Mobile devices and mobile applications play a huge role in many industries including the finance and investment sector. However, it’s crucial to only use devices and applications you trust. These devices and apps should be comprehensively tested and approved by other professionals who work in the same area as you.

Usernames and Passwords

Today’s software and online systems are designed with convenience in mind. This is why you only need to know the username and password associated with your account on a particular system. Unfortunately, this convenience can come at a cost. If someone else knows your username and password, they can then log in to your account and this can have serious repercussions for you and your business.

To prevent your username and password from falling into the wrong hands, it’s essential to take certain precautions. For instance, never leave your username and password in full view of other people. You should also regularly change your password and ensure that your password is not an obvious one that other people can guess.

Access to Sensitive Information

If you have a number of employees, you will more than likely want to give different access rights to different users of your business systems. As the owner of the business you should have administrator rights, while those who work for you should only have permission to access the data and system features that allow them to do their jobs. Before you invest in any business system, make sure the systems you purchase allow you to do this in a straightforward and secure way.

Taking Work Home

In some instances, you may have physical copies of sensitive items that you are working on. If you do this on a regular basis, you need to keep these types of documents safe at all times, and if you decide to get rid of them, make sure you do it in the appropriate way by using a shredder or similar device. Employees should also be prevented from bringing their work home with them, especially if the contents of the files and documents are sensitive in nature.

Entry to Your Business Premises

As well as keeping the data and systems your business uses secure, you also have to keep your work place secure. The larger your business is, the more important this approach becomes. Adding high-quality CCTV cameras, alarms and entry devices are all effective ways of preventing unwanted guests from entering the building that your business is situated in.

Updates, Upgrades and Software Patches

If you have your own software systems, these systems need to be maintained on a regular basis. Certain updates, upgrades and software patches should be applied, so that these software systems perform to their full potential and prevent hackers and other criminals from corrupting or stealing the information stored on these systems.

Introduce Security Processes and Policies

As the owner or decision maker in an investment company, you have to be ready for all types of situations and security issues that could occur in the future. To face these challenges head on, you should introduce security processes and policies that you and your employees need to follow.

Examples include always backing up data, remotely storing data and having a disaster recovery policy in place. These processes and policies will ensure that the right work practices are followed and that you can get up and running again quickly, if a security problem does occur.

Security is a major concern for most businesses. Investment companies, in particular, need to be vigilant and you can make your business a more secure and safer organization by following the steps above.