What does your business do to keep sensitive information safe? From employee records and data to the heart of the company's finances, there is a great deal of private info over which you must maintain a close watch. What can the average business do to make their workplace safer? Keep these things in mind as you consider setting up your business on a firm security footing.
Follow General Best Practices for Digital Privacy
Broadly speaking, some of the most effective workplace privacy measures are also the most basic. All employees should strive to observe standard best practices for fostering a secure workplace. These actions can include basic steps, such as locking a workstation when leaving one's desk, and more advanced solutions such as logged access control for sensitive information. Fostering a culture that includes an understanding of the need for privacy and safety in the workplace will contribute to better successes in other efforts.
Keep Your Documents Safe and Secure
Protecting a workstation from other users is essential, but it is only a first line of defense. When it comes to files that contain sensitive or private information, it's important to lock them down, too. With Kofax Power PDF, implementing strict password or certificate-based encryption is quick and easy. Without the appropriate credentials, an unauthorized user won't even be able to open the file, let alone view or alter its contents.
Encrypt with Smart, Strong Passwords
When using tools such as Power PDF to prevent unauthorized use or access to private information, it is also critical to follow the best practices for passwords. Always keep a few rules in mind when creating passwords, such as:
- Use complex sequences of numbers and letters
- Avoid dictionary words and common passwords, such as birthdates or simple strings
- Memorize or securely store passwords instead of writing them down or distributing them to employees
- Don't re-use passwords between items. If one becomes compromised, it could open all your files.
Enterprise-level password management software may be an appropriate resource to investigate for simplifying these procedures.
Related read: Easily Create and Manage PDF Security with Power PDF
Prevent Unwanted Edits to Stop Tampering
Alongside fully encrypting documents themselves, Power PDF also provides users with another tool for protecting information. With options to lock specific actions, you can ensure that another password is necessary to do anything with an important PDF. For example, you can restrict functions such as editing a PDF or printing the document. Locking specific fields and other information is also possible. Even if an unauthorized user does get such a file, they may not be able to do much of anything considering the layers of protection you've put into place.
Beware of Scams and Other Digital Dangers
Don't forget that digital threats don't disappear just because you are at work. In fact, you're more likely to encounter threats such as "spearphishing" — emails that seem legitimate and attempt to gain some kind of information from you. Viral attachments, sometimes in PDF format, are also a risk. Power PDF contains built-in security protections to detect problematic elements in PDFs and to prevent these files from opening. Maintain an awareness of these threats among all employees and use robust software to protect your teams from bad actors.
Creating a Safer Workplace
With even small businesses handling a vast amount of information annually, it is vital to have robust document security procedures to protect private information — both personal and business-related. Through adequate training, appropriate methods, and support from richly-featured software such as Power PDF, safeguarding confidential information can be an everyday part of doing business. Find out more about the privacy features and other capabilities of Power PDF today.
Related read: Six Easy Ways to Improve Legal Document Security
