It’s Christmas, and who doesn’t love a good sing-a-long at Christmas? More importantly, who doesn’t enjoy knowing their sensitive data is secure, with all of that information of yours and your customers protected to the best of your ability? As everyone starts to wind down for the Christmas period, security should be one of the biggest things on your mind – especially if you’re going to be leaving empty offices behind. And since it is the festive season, we’ve put together a selection of 12 Christmas security tips to sing along to, and hopefully keep your business merry and bright.
On The First Day Of Christmas make sure all of your employees are prepared to leave behind a clear desk. We’ve talked about how great clear desk policies are before, but even if you don’t embrace the idea normally, Christmas is the time to do so. A clear desk means no confidential information left to fall into the wrong hands, and everything is secured away.
On The Second Day Of Christmas ask employees to store any electronic devices over the holidays, or during operating hours if you work in a retail industry (or something that means clients will be coming in and out a lot). Exposed devices like laptops and mobile phones can lead to a data breach and a lot of damage to your business.
On The Third Day Of Christmas remind any staff who will be working from home over the festive period how they should be disposing of office-related documents. While the recycling bin might be perfect for your unwanted wrapping paper, it’s not right for sensitive information, especially if it’s somewhere visible to everyone.
On The Fourth Day Of Christmas make sure staff are aware of any contractors you have hired over the Christmas period, ad who will be in the office when. Include a reminder to always check ID and make sure no official documents are left out in plain sight.
On The Fifth Day Of Christmas make a log of all electronic equipment or USBs leaving the office over the Christmas period, including where they are going with who, and what data they have access too. Remember to log them back in on your return. It’s important to keep track of where all storage devices are to help protect your business from a data breach.
On The Sixth Day Of Christmas try to limit the type of documents that employees can remove from your office. After all, there is no way to ensure the data is secure when it’s outside of your company’s control.
On The Seventh Day Of Christmas be sure electronic devices such as tablets and laptops which employees might be working on from home are encrypted and password protected, to safeguard any confidential information stored on them.
On The Eighth Day Of Christmas remind employees to destroy all paper copies of invoices and financial documents that are no longer needed. In the frantic rush to get everything paid before the end of the year, it’s easy to miss something.
On The Ninth Day Of Christmas you might have paid out your employee’s Christmas bonuses, but remember that payslips and all other employee information should be destroyed securely, or at least stored safely away from prying eyes.
On The Tenth Day Of Christmas adopt a new mantra: ‘new year, new start’. Revisit your security protocols and processes around data security, and if you have time conduct a full information security audit. You don’t have to act on anything you find now, but it gives you a good starting point for the new year.
On The Eleventh Day Of Christmas start thinking about those New Year’s Resolutions. Need to keep your paperwork under control? Consider employing a shredding service to help your business become more efficient, secure and reduce the risk of an information security breach.
On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas make sure you have a process in place for the inevitable ‘new year’ clear out your employees will do. Ensure all documentation is destroyed properly, and not just thrown in the bin. If you can, hire a secure document bin to place everything into, ready to send to the shredder.
But above all, relax and enjoy your Christmas! For more tips on data security, shredding or employee productivity, just head to our blog page.
