Data Security – How Business Applications help SMBs
Matt Archer
June 8, 2021
Stay Safe, Whatever you’re doing
As we’ve discussed previously, Data security is something that’s very important for all businesses, but especially SMBs because they’re often more vulnerable. According to a 2019 study from insurer Hiscox, “cyberattacks cost all businesses an average of $200,000 a year, and 60% of businesses targeted by cyber criminals go bust within six months.”[1]
You wouldn’t leave your office’s door wide open when you close for the day, so it’s equally important you’re not leaving your data open and easy for hackers or fraudsters to access. We feel the same way, and that’s why we choose to partner with solutions that provide best-in-class security options for the features they provide.
Your business probably uses a variety of applications in order to accomplish things such as customer relationship management, communication, document storage and project management. Each of these different types of applications needs to have their own security and privacy features to ensure you’re protected.
Let’s take a look at three of our partner apps to explain what security and privacy options they provide for your company.
RingCentral (Unified Communications) Data Security
RingCentral
is a Unified Communications application that provides phone, fax, video and chat services all under one umbrella. This is a very important area that companies often overlook when assessing their data privacy and security.
Without proper security features, unauthorized users could join team meetings, access confidential information or read private conversations. This is why RingCentral has a robust security suite to keep your data protected and your accounts secure.
RingCentral provides 7 layers of security ranging from Physical, Network, Host, Data, Application, Business process and enterprise organization. Additionally, RingCentral provides transmission security through Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) encryption between all endpoints. It has infrastructure security in the form of firewalls, administrative controls, intrusion detection systems, fraud analytics, and their data centers are monitored by electronic prevention systems, security guards and systems engineers. You can feel safe with the level of security RingCentral provides for your data.
Zoho (CRM, Project Management, Help Desk, and more) Data Security
Zoho
is a suite of apps that work together to help companies be able to manage as much of their business operations as possible under one umbrella. Whatever your business needs, Zoho probably has an app for it. Since keeping data accessible in the cloud from anywhere is utilized by many companies due to its convenience and cost effectiveness, it’s important to make sure that the data is secure so criminals aren’t able to access it just as easily.
Zoho offers a large array of security and privacy features to make sure your data stays out of the wrong hands. Some of these features are listed below.
Organizational Security
From employee background checks, to dedicated security/privacy teams, to ongoing training in security awareness, Zoho makes sure that organizational security is top of mind. They conduct internal audits and adhere to compliance standards for security.
Physical Security
Zoho provides physical security at all of their workplaces and data centers, while monitoring for any suspicious activity at all locations they own.
Infrastructure Security
Zoho protects their networks just as much as they protect their physical data centers through network security and redundancy protocols, DDoS prevention strategies, server hardening and intrusion detection and prevention protocols.
Data Security
Zoho further protects your data through data isolation strategies, enhanced encryption methods and strategies around data retention and disposal.
Identity and Access Control
Zoho provides Single Sign-On (SSO) options, multi-factor authentication and administrator options to control who can access your company’s data and how much access they have.
Operational Security
Zoho ensures that interactions within their systems are monitored and logged to help provide easy tracking of suspicious persons. They offer vulnerability management to assist administrators with identifying and correcting problem areas in the network. They also provide malware and spam protection to help keep intruders out of the system.
Zoho also provides backup options for many of their applications in case something unexpected occurs. Additionally, they offer disaster recovery and business continuity assistance in case an emergency event happens.
Incident management
Zoho provides reporting and breach notifications in the event that an unwanted user gains access to their systems or data, and works diligently to resolve the issues in the best possible way.
DropBox (Document Collaboration) Data Security
Document sharing through the cloud is something many businesses do on a regular basis now. Since many of those documents contain confidential information, however, it’s vital that your document collaboration application has the level of security you need to keep your information out of the wrong hands.
Dropbox is a document collaboration application that provides a secure online storage and sharing solution for all of your documents. They offer a multitude of security features, of which some are explained below.
Dropbox files at rest are encrypted using 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). A hacker or cracker would require 2256 different combinations to break a 256-bit encrypted message, which is virtually impossible to be broken by even the fastest computers.[2]
Dropbox uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) to protect data in transit between Dropbox apps and their servers. SSL/TSL creates a secure tunnel protected by 128-bit or higher Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption.
Additionally, Dropbox applications and infrastructure are regularly tested for security vulnerabilities, and hardened to enhance security and protect against attacks.
For even more security, two-step verification is available for an extra layer of security at login. If you use two-step verification, you can choose to receive security codes by text message or from an authenticator app.
Finally, public files are only viewable by people who have a link to the file(s), which makes it less likely for someone to stumble upon private documents that they aren’t supposed to see.
Final Thoughts
Positive Results™ is a training development and cloud services company that focuses on assisting organizations by analyzing their business processes and implementing solutions to solve for any gaps that we find.
Security is top of mind for our business and that’s why we partner with solutions that hold security and privacy in high regard, so we can focus on ensuring our clients are as protected as possible. We hope that this article has helped provide some insight and peace of mind around the importance security plays in keeping your data out of the wrong hands.
If you have additional questions or need support, contact us at:
Positive Results™ Custom Business Solutions
440.499.4944
Sources:
https://www.ringcentral.com/technology/security.html
https://www.zoho.com/security.html
https://help.dropbox.com/accounts-billing/security/how-security-works
[1] https://www.ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/small-business-cybersecurity/
[2] https://www.techopedia.com/definition/29703/256-bit-encryption
