Every month or so, we hear on the news how a major corporation’s database of data was “hacked” and how it will affect their customers. Actually, it happens much more often, we just don’t hear about it because most companies keep their bad news out of the media.
We firmly believe that one of the most valuable things in the world is data, intelligence, knowledge or any word you use to verbalize the information used in our businesses to stay functional, organized and profitable. Without data, there would be no efficient way to communicate, place or fulfill orders or produce/provide our products and services. Yes, data is extremely valuable to a small business, that’s why the “hackers” are after it.
Our team of IT professionals @ McCann & Associates may differ on many computer related topics, but one we all agree on is: “Proactive is better than Reactive”. Protecting your data is easier, less expensive and much less stressful than recovering from the malicious acts of a “computer hacker”. Encryption is the lock we use to keep the bad guys from accessing your business’s digital data.
Encryption is the process of encoding (or protecting like a lock) the digital data on a computer, database or network, so that only the owner/person or computer with the right code (key to access) can open the information. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), uses 128-, 192- or 256-bit keys. We are confident that the AES is the best method for securing digital data and will be for the foreseeable future. For example: an AES 128-bit encryption key can have more than 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 key combinations. (That’s an Undecillionth, and yes I had to look that up 
)
Proactive vs. Reactive:
Being proactive is being a good boy scout, you are prepared. Another example is insurance; we’ve got you covered. Reactive is fixing the issue after the fact, a good example is changing the oil in your car vs replacing the motor, which is an expensive reaction.
Protecting/Encrypting your small business data has numerous variables to consider:
- How much data is there to protect
- How many computers access the data
- What software is used to access/manipulate the data
- Is the data cloud based or local
- Is it a network of computers or servers or databases
How important is the information you use to operate your business and how do you protect it from the digital “hackers” in the world?
Do you prefer to be a
Proactive or Reactive business?
#ComputerEncryption
John McCann & Associates, Inc.
704-662-6845
IT Management for Small Business
Computer Services, Solutions & Support
www.McCannAssociates.com