These days no business is safe from falling victim to a cyber-attack. With growing threats of things like ransomware and other activities of malicious intent, there’s never been a more critical time to invest in keeping your data and network secure. Not only could a successful security breach cost your property management company financially, but it could also do irreparable damage to your hard-earned reputation.

Are you taking the right steps to prevent a potential breach? Here are a few things you can implement today to help fortify your defense.

Invest in Dedicated Servers

For smaller property management companies, especially those on a tight budget, it can be tempting to use a shared server for file hosting in an effort to minimize expenses. Unfortunately, this “shared” access can result in a much greater degree of data vulnerability. While dedicated servers do tend to cost more, thanks to technological advancements and competition, these costs have been driven down considerably over the past few years. And remember, it’s not so much an expense as it is an investment in your company’s security. For optimal performance and protection against all potential threats, consider INFO-Tracker™Dedicated Hosting.

Find out how technology can make life easier for your customers, your staff, and YOU! Download a free copy of The Property Manager’s Guide to Technology.

Use Data Encryption

If you’re not yet familiar, data encryption technology does pretty much what its name indicates – encrypts company information to make it much harder (if not impossible) for would-be hackers to access and exploit it. The simple reality is this: if your property management company is not using adequate, up-to-date data encryption, you are a much easier and therefore more attractive target for cyber criminals.

Establish Requirements & Educate Employees

You may take every measure available to you to safeguard your network and sensitive data, but have you made sure your employees are on board? The fact is, hackers know that the weakest link and therefore most desirable targets in many cases are those who work within your property management office. This is why things like phishing and other social engineering tactics are so successful. Make sure that you’ve covered all your bases, including implementing stringent internal security rules as well as investing in ongoing training and education of employees to help them stay vigilant.

Create a Disaster Recovery Plan

We’ve shared some guidance in the past regarding how to plan ahead for physical disasters, such as a flood or fire in your office building, but what about the damages caused by a digital disaster? The longer your systems are down for the count, the more money your property management business will lose as a result. Proper data security planning should involve developing a strategy that will help get critical systems back up and running as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

The topic of data security has never been more relevant and now is as good a time as any to take the right steps that will ensure your company’s optimum protection against hackers. What extra measures have you put in place to protect your network and sensitive information? Please share below.

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Find out how technology can make life easier for your customers, your staff, and YOU! Download a free copy of The Property Manager’s Guide to Technology in the Management Office.