Setting Security Standards for Your Business: 3 Questions to Ask

I’m in the middle of handing off a fair amount of my work-load to a virtual assistant. One of the questions I’ve been struggling with, though, is just how much I should trust her with. Don’t get me wrong — I trust my VA. But I’m still figuring out what the security standards for my business should be. How much access should she have to my financial records? What does she need to have a password for? Heck, should I let her set her own passwords?

1. How secure is secure enough? Determining the steps you need to take to protect your business can be a difficult process. Depending on the business you’re in, you may have legal requirements you need to comply with. On top of that, though, you need to make sure that your information and office are secure to your satisfaction. That can require a little research — for instance, what makes up the measures that secure your company’s information in an online application? That research can lead you to set a variety of policies about how your business handles security concerns.
2. How do you make sure your employees, contractors and other help stick to your security standards? For many small businesses, the biggest security issues stem from people you work with — not hackers specifically targeting your business. Not only do the employees, contractors and other individuals you work with need to be trustworthy, but you also need to make sure that they follow the security policies you set. One easy-to-crack password can provide access to an entire company’s computer system, no matter how good the rest of your security is. You have to educate the people involved in your company and make sure that they are familiar with the steps you expect them to take.
3. How fast can you change passwords, keys and security settings? In the event that something goes wrong, you need to know what it will take to remove a particular person’s access to your business. If we’re talking about someone who has access to your physical office, that can mean changing the locks. If it’s someone who has access to your information online, that can mean changing passwords. Depending on the type of worker you may be having problems with, you may need to bring in some outside help to make sure something is secure — I’ve heard unfortunate stories of less-than-trustworthy individuals leaving back doors or copying keys.

These questions are just a starting point in determining how your business will handle security concerns, but they are crucial to the process. No matter what type of business you’re in, you need to set security policies. Even if it’s just you in the office at this point, your security policies will help you decide what tools you need to grow and how to choose the right people to help you.

Personally, my VA and I are moving slowly, since I didn’t set my security standards in advance. We both get frustrated with the speed, but we’re talking about my business: I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Image by Flickr user Brad & Ying

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under Workforce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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