A leak of a company's internal data can cause countless losses and have an immeasurable impact on the business. Besides exposing confidential information about employees, managers, partners, suppliers, and customers, this type of problem can damage the company's image in the market and result in various penalties. For this reason, blocking company websites is a practice that is increasingly being implemented today.
Imagine your most important business information falling into the hands of malicious individuals, or your future projects being exposed to your competitors ? It's a situation that sends chills down our spines.
For this reason, managers must implement all necessary measures to prevent information leaks and ensure the confidentiality of data stored by the business. No company wants to have its credibility damaged or lose customers due to such a problem.
Just as the quality of products and services offered must be a priority for businesses, companies must also invest in information security to remain competitive in the market and contribute to real and substantial growth.
According to a survey conducted by SurfShark (a company specializing in information privacy), Brazil ranked 12th among countries with the highest number of data breaches in the first half of last year. Although the country showed an improvement in this ranking compared to previous surveys, this data causes us great concern and highlights the need to adopt resources and tools aimed at data protection.
In the following period, the situation worsened even further. The country jumped to 6th place, as we can see in this article:
Leakage of confidential information: the great danger of modernity
When we talk about information leaks, our first reaction is concern . A data leak, even if it's just an individual issue, can have a major impact on someone's life and routine. Now, if we imagine this leak on the scale of a company or organization, these problems will be magnified, and the impact will be even more severe.
The main risks of information leaks are:
Disclosure of confidential data
There are types of information stored by companies that can pose a significant risk to their respective owners. To visualize the impact of this type of leak, imagine if a health insurance company ends up having its data stolen and this information becomes public.
These types of companies store not only contact information, addresses, and financial data, but also information about health issues and other sensitive aspects of individuals. Let's assume this information could be illegally sold to illegal companies, scammers, and criminals. The impact on each of these individuals' lives could 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.
Leakage of financial information
Technology has brought highly efficient solutions for businesses and individuals, facilitating bill payments and bank transfers, for example . But these benefits can also pose risks when this information falls into the wrong hands.
With third-party financial data, cybercriminals can carry out numerous types of scams that cannot always be reversed by banking institutions. Illegal loans, bank transfers, credit card purchases , and many other practices can be perpetrated by cybercriminals.
Access to corporate information
To remain competitive in the market, a company needs a well-thought-out and well-established strategy to stand out from the competition . These strategies should only be known to managers and business leaders, and a data leak can have a significant impact on the company's growth.
Furthermore, financial data about the company's profitability, the dissemination of content that impacts future business, earnings reports, and much more may be leaked.
Impact on company reputation
A business that fails to keep the information stored on employees, partners, and customers confidential may no longer be considered a consolidated company. As customers and consumers, we know that a company that has suffered a data breach may not be the best choice for hiring or doing business with .
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 market position and avoid impacts to their image .
Penalty imposed by LGPD
The General Data Protection Law was created to increase security and protect data owners. Therefore, this law contains several penalties that can be applied to companies that do not process and handle 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've discussed in other articles related to this topic, blocking websites in your company is a strategy that can bring several benefits to your business . This is because, in addition to more efficiently monitoring key 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 cite the following factors as the main benefits of website blocking within the company:
- Increased productivity ;
- Improved focus;
- Greater quality in work delivery;
- Increased protection against dangerous and malicious websites;
- Reduction in the incidence of cyber attacks;
- Less contamination by malware , viruses and other harmful files;
- Greater reliability in processes;
- Reduction in 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 Usage Policy designed to guide employees on the correct use of this tool. However, in many cases, this policy is not strictly followed, creating more vulnerabilities and jeopardizing the confidentiality of stored information .
It's crucial 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 within the workplace will be.
Blocking websites not only ensures greater security for your business and information, but also enhances team productivity. This benefit works like a chain reaction: controlling internet access helps reduce wasted time, which in turn increases employee productivity and benefits everyone involved.
It is essential to have the best tool
While there are several resources on the market designed to block websites in companies, 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 looking to increase their security.
Just as it's necessary to invest in the quality of your products and services, it's also important to invest in digital security and the protection of the information stored by your business. In addition to having an Internet Usage Policy that helps guide employees on the best practices for using this tool, it's also essential to use the right tool to increase this protection.
Furthermore, with the right resource, the company can also increase productivity and improve its results. The internet, while indispensable, is an environment full of threats and pitfalls that can cause immeasurable damage to a business.
Controlling access with the right tool will help your company eliminate wasted time and improve the quality of its activities.
How to better protect information
As we've seen, in addition to having a Internet Usage Policy and establishing a training and awareness process for employees, the company also needs to choose an access control tool that helps keep its information protected.
We know that many internet security problems can be caused by human errors and flaws in company processes. Blocking websites in your company can 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 must emphasize the importance of having a comprehensive tool capable of meeting all your business's digital security needs. With technological advancements and increasing resources focused on streamlining tasks, protecting stored data must 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 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, so too are the ways to hack into systems and steal information . The more protected your company is, the less likely that data will be leaked, hijacked (as in ransomware ), or used maliciously.
Until later!
