According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a US data breach was $10.22 million in 2025.
In addition to impacting the business’s operations and reputation, many received regulatory fines and legal consequences. Some business leaders and their staff also reported significant stress or burnout following the cyberattack.
If you believe your business is at risk or your existing systems and techniques aren’t strong enough, you must introduce the appropriate solutions into your operations. Here are five key strategies for protecting your business and its data.
Invest in Security Operations
Security operations (SecOps) incorporate a set of innovative functions to monitor and protect your business and its data. It focuses on preventing, detecting, and responding to all cybersecurity threats immediately.
It will reduce the likelihood of a cybersecurity breach and prevent data from being compromised. It is also designed to detect and respond to all potential cyber threats that have bypassed traditional cybersecurity solutions, such as intrusion detection systems and firewalls.
Limit Data Privileges
Your goal might be to create an open, transparent company culture, but this shouldn’t extend to the business’s cybersecurity. While you may trust every employee, it only takes one accidental or deliberate mistake to cause a data breach.
Limit data privileges across the business to shield sensitive information, ensuring it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Only provide your team members with access to the data they need to perform their roles effectively each day.
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Automate Software Updates
Many business owners make the costly mistake of ignoring software updates in favor of performing more time-sensitive tasks. Yet, many cybercriminals will exploit software vulnerabilities, which could pose a threat to your valuable data.
Keep hackers at bay by setting up systems to automatically update when needed. It will prevent an unwanted data breach while allowing you to focus your attention on other areas of the business.
Train Your Team
Cybersecurity education is fundamental to keeping your sensitive data safe and secure. It only takes one small mistake by an employee to cause a breach, leading to various issues, such as operational setbacks, legal repercussions, financial problems, and reputational damage.
In addition to improving your employees’ knowledge of strong passwords, phishing scams, and unsecured networks, you must improve their understanding of modern cyberattacks. For instance, undertake phishing drills to help your team identify potential AI-generated deepfake videos and voice clones.
Also, introduce strict cybersecurity policies to ensure employees know how to act if they suspect an attack. For example, a call-back policy will make sure an employee verifies an internal request via a secondary channel to avoid making a big mistake.
Encrypt Your Data
Data encryption is a must when attempting to protect your sensitive information. It works by scrambling the text to ensure it is an unreadable format. You will sleep well at night after introducing it, as you will know a hacker cannot read the data when gaining access to your network. You should also introduce encryption on your server or when sharing it with others.
