The leakage of a company's internal data can cause countless losses and an immeasurable impact on the business. In addition to exposing confidential information about employees, managers, partners, suppliers and customers, this type of problem can damage the business's image in the market and generate several penalties. For this reason, blocking company websites is a practice that is being increasingly applied today.
Imagine the most important information regarding your business falling into the hands of people with malicious intentions or your future projects being exposed to your competitors ? It's a situation that just imagining gives us goosebumps.
For this reason, managers must implement all necessary measures to prevent information leakage and guarantee the confidentiality of data stored by the business. No company wants to have its credibility affected or lose customers due to a problem of this type.
Just as the quality of the products and services offered must be a priority for businesses, companies must also invest in information security so that they can remain competitive in the market and contribute to real and substantial growth.
According to a survey carried out by SurfShark (a company specializing in information privacy), Brazil ranked 12th among the countries with the highest number of data leaks in the first half of last year. Although the country has shown an improvement in this position compared to previous surveys, it is a fact that causes us great concern and highlights the need to adopt resources and tools aimed at data protection.
In the following period, the situation became even worse. The country jumped to 6th place, as we can see in this article:
Leakage of confidential information: the great danger of modernity
When we deal with information leaks, our first reaction is concern . Data leakage, thinking just as a person, is a problem that can have a huge impact on someone's life and routine. Now imagining this leak on the scale of a company or organization, these problems will be maximized and the impact will be even more brutal.
The main risks in information leakage are:
Disclosure of confidential data
There are types of information that are stored by companies that can pose a great risk to their respective holders. Although you can visualize the impact of this type of leak, imagine that a health insurance company ends up having its data stolen and this information becomes public.
Companies of this type store, in addition to contact information, address and financial data, information about health problems and other sensitive aspects of people. Suppose this information could be sold irregularly to illegal companies, scammers and criminals. The impact on the lives of each of these people can be irreversible.
Although the main target of this type of leak is to obtain personal data, any and all confidential information can be used criminally, impacting the lives of victims and causing countless problems for the company that was responsible for this data.
Leak of financial information
With technology, very efficient solutions have emerged for businesses and people, facilitating the payment of bills and bank transfers, for example . But these benefits can also be a risk when this information falls into the wrong hands.
In possession of third-party financial data, cybercriminals can carry out numerous types of scams that cannot always be reversed by banking institutions. Irregular loans, bank transfers, credit card purchases , and many other practices can be applied by cybercriminals.
Access to corporate information
To be able to remain competitive in the market, a company needs a well-thought-out and consolidated strategy to stand out from the competition . These strategies should only be known to managers and those responsible for the business, and the leakage of this data results in a major impact on the growth of this company.
In addition, financial data on the company's profitability, disclosure of content that impacts future business, results report, and much more may also be leaked.
Impact on the company's reputation
A business that is unable to keep the stored information of employees, partners and customers confidential may no longer be considered a consolidated company. Thinking as clients and consumers, we know that a company that has suffered from a data breach may not be the best choice for hiring or business .
For this reason, investing in tools and resources that help increase security and maintain data reliability should be a primary strategy for businesses that want to maintain their position in the market and avoid impacts to their image .
Penalty imposed by LGPD
The General Data Protection Law was legislation created to increase security and protect data owners. For this reason, this law contains several penalties that can be applied to companies that do not treat and manipulate stored data correctly.
These penalties can involve, in addition to the interruption of activities, financial fines that can reach astronomical amounts, causing a major impact on the financial health of a business.
Is website blocking beneficial?
As we have already discussed in other articles related to the topic, blocking websites in the company is a strategy that can bring several benefits to the business . This is because, in addition to more efficiently monitoring the main security requirements and business systems, website blocking is also a strategy aimed at improving productivity and delivering increasingly better results for employees.
Therefore, we can mention the following factors as the main benefits of blocking websites within the company:
- Increased productivity ;
- Improved focus;
- More quality in the delivery of work;
- Increased protection against dangerous and malicious websites;
- Reducing the incidence of cyber attacks;
- Less contamination by malware , viruses and other harmful files;
- More reliability in processes;
- Reduction of maintenance costs for company equipment;
- Smarter use of business resources;
- Assertive monitoring of employees’ digital behavior;
- And much more.
We know that most companies have an Internet Use Policy aimed at guiding employees on the correct use of this tool. However, in many cases this policy is not followed to the letter, causing more vulnerabilities and putting the confidentiality of stored information at risk .
It is very important that employees understand the importance of blocking websites in the company, and their respective roles in maintaining the security and protection of business data. The more educated your team is, the more balanced and harmonious the routine will be within the work environment.
Blocking websites, in addition to ensuring greater security for the business and information, is also a valuable ally in team productivity. And this benefit works like a chain reaction: controlling internet access helps to reduce wasted time, which consequently increases employee productivity and results in benefits for all parties.
It is essential to have the best tool
Although there are several resources on the market created to block websites in the company, managers need to find a solution that can meet all their needs in a practical and simplified way. This means that even if manual blocking is possible, it may not be a complete strategy for businesses that want to increase their security.
Just as it is necessary to invest in quality for your products and services, it is also important to invest in digital security and in the protection of information stored by the business. In addition to having an Internet Use Policy that helps guide employees on the best conduct when using this tool, it is also essential to use the correct tool to increase this protection.
Furthermore, with the ideal resource, the company can also increase productivity and make its results even better. The internet, although indispensable, is an environment full of threats and traps, which can cause immeasurable damage to a business.
Controlling access carried out with the right tool will help your company eliminate wasted time and bring more quality to the activities carried out.
How to better protect information
As we have seen, in addition to having a Internet Use Policy and establishing a training and awareness process for employees, the company also needs to choose an access control tool that helps keep your information protected.
We know that most internet security problems can be caused by human errors and errors in the company's processes. Blocking websites in your company may be the best strategy to keep your employees out of trouble and avoid the risks that the digital environment can pose.
With countless financial and cyber scams that can be carried out using confidential information, combating data leaks should be a priority for managers .
We need to emphasize the need to have a complete tool that is capable of meeting all your business needs in terms of digital security. With the advancement of technology and more and more resources aimed at optimizing tasks, protecting stored data should be considered a central aspect of your business's security strategy.
In addition to all these factors, your company also needs to implement a backup policy that ensures that all data is stored in a backup copy in case the worst happens.
Just as resources are developed daily to bring results to our tasks, ways to invade the system and steal information are also advancing . The more protected your company is, the lower the chances of this data being leaked, hijacked (as in a ransomware scam ) or used maliciously.
Until later!
