National Cyber Security Awareness Month this October is a good reminder that you always need to focus on information security. No matter how much effort you put into implementing security measures, there are always new challenges that require rethinking your security. Here are six “new” reasons to take another look at how you’re protecting your data:

New Technology

There are many benefits that come from using new technologies like the Internet of Things, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) mobile computing, and cloud technology, but these new technologies can introduce new risks to an organization. Analyzing the risks and taking measures to control them should be part of adopting any new technology

New Hacking Methods

Companies use analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to find patterns in the data available to them; so do hackers. Cyber criminals are able to apply analytic methods to large databases of stolen data and exploit their insights to gain access to corporate systems.

New Attacks

Hackers continually create and release new computer viruses that include new forms of attack, such as ransomware, that threaten your data in new ways. Without updating your antivirus software to recognize the signatures of the new malware, your systems remain vulnerable.

New Patches

Vendors are constantly finding vulnerabilities in their software and releasing patches to fix them. Keeping track of patches and making sure they’re consistently applied to all your servers and desktops is an ongoing challenge, not only because of workloads filled with other tasks but also because hardware and software inventories are rarely up to date.

New Employees

Employees need frequent training in safe computing practices. Even if you have no staff turnover, periodic reminders of the importance of creating strong passwords, keeping them safe, and protecting data from unauthorized access are necessary. When you do have new employees, they need familiarization with data security practices that may be different from what they are used to.

New Data

If your company is growing, gaining new business and new customers, you’re adding new applications and new data; you may have new third-party partners with whom you exchange information. A strong data governance policy is needed to make sure you know how sensitive any new data is and who has access to it.

Get Help Keeping Up With Technology Changes

Keeping up with the new is hard when technology isn’t your business. But technology is our business, so keeping up with the new is part of our job. dcVAST’s Infrastructure as a Service moves your technology operations into our data center and ensures that critical information is protected by the latest security solutions and standards. We’re also experts in Veritas Data Insight, which helps you track who’s accessing what data. With that information, you can refine your data governance policy and apply security measures to keep your private data private. Contact us to find out how we can help keep new technology and new security threats from becoming new risks to your business.