How physical security benefits the safety of your data

Nowadays, every business and significant corporation has some aspect of their company residing on a network that makes said company operate smoothly. This is one of the reasons why business software is becoming more and more prominent. A company’s network is a treasure trove of secure documents and business dealings that need to be kept secure. A major portion of network security entails making sure that the network software is adequately preventing against any data breaches that could lead to the misuse, modification or destruction of any important information.

IT helps restrict access

A company should be lauded if it is taking the necessary measures to prevent network breaches and protect data. However, there are many companies that neglect physical security. If a company goes out of its way to have the most robust software security but is left wanting on the physical side of things, their data will not be entirely secure. This is one of the reasons why so many companies find IT systems integration so important. Physical security is also an important backbone when it comes to data safety, and here are the ways it will benefit you:

When a company has robust physical security measures in place, it helps restrict the access that people have to its system. This can be done on multiple levels. It can be employed by giving people very limited access to your office space or by instituting authorisation levels that only allow the proper individuals to access parts of the network. This will greatly boost the network access policies that might already be in place. An employee without the appropriate security clearance cannot gain entry to a server room or make unauthorised transactions from a stand-alone computer connected to the network.

IT helps keep track of security breaches

If your employee was somehow able to bypass your security measures and gain unauthorised entry into your server room or another part of your network, your physical security can still come in handy. Think of physical security as the gift that keeps on giving. A fail-safe is always in place if another part doesn’t hold up. In this case, that would be the use of surveillance cameras and other monitoring equipment. These will help track any unauthorised action. The only thing worse than someone compromising your network security and data is not knowing who it is. With proper physical security measures in place, companies will be able to monitor all the actions that go on, which can be done in many ways. For instance, surveillance cameras and physical security points use keys or security tokens to ensure that there is always a log of anyone who wishes to gain access.

IT helps deter any unauthorised actions

One of the biggest benefits of physical security is that people will notice it. I am not saying that you should deliberately flaunt it because that might lead to someone discovering flaws in your security system. However, if it is employed in just the right way, it will help deter people from attempting to gain access. For instance, this is the exact same reason why someone might hire a commercial locksmith to put new high-security locks on the office doors. They are aware that a burglar might come knocking one day, but they still want to ensure that they are either deterred or thwarted by an awesome lock. This security measure will also help cultivate your team’s efficiency by building trust between them and promoting a sense of openness and security within your company.

IT ensures faster response times

Oftentimes, the bane of many companies is that they cannot respond to data breaches fast enough and make no mistake, time is supremely important when it comes to data. If a data break does occur, having proper physical security in place will allow companies to react faster. With the appropriate equipment and surveillance gear in place, companies will be given real-time notifications showing when there has been a physical security breach. This is one of the many benefits of having a monitored security system in place. This measure will allow them to stop the perpetrator before they even gain access to the network and its treasured data. In addition to stopping data theft in its tracks, these faster response times will reduce the cost of data loss that a company might incur.

Securing data entails a lot more than just making sure that it is encrypted and hidden behind lines of code. The physical security aspect can never be ignored, and its benefits to a company cannot be overstated. Physical security should not overshadow data security and vice versa. Each aspect needs to work in tandem to produce the best result. Here are a few quick takeaways that companies can employ to maximise their physical security:

• Make sure that the server room stays locked up and is only accessible to authorised personnel.
• Securely set up your surveillance equipment in the places where data breaches are most likely to occur. Also, ensure that it will be hard for anyone to tamper with the surveillance.
• Employ a clear desk policy so that no data is unwittingly left out in the open; also, ensure that all workstations are disconnected from the network and powered down at the end of the work day.
• It is best to keep your hard drives and network access points behind locked doors or cabinets secured with high-security locks. This will make it hard for criminals and burglars to gain access to your drives and data.