Looking after the security of your business should be among your most important priorities. After all, without properly maintaining access control of who can access certain areas and particular documents, it is more than likely to be a free-for-all. In a modern world where a huge number of crimes are occurring in the digital world, it is more important than ever that only staff members with clearance are able to access the parts of the business that they need to.
It is also likely that you are going to want to vary access control depending on the seniority of the staff member and what they need to do their job effectively. If you are looking to boost access control at your business.
Here are 9 Ways to Boost Access Control at Your Business:
1. Identify what needs access control
You are never going to be able to implement a proper system of access control without first thinking about where it is needed at your business. This should be both within the physical and the digital space. For example, a system of ID badges can help to limit access to the office, but it can also be used to restrict employees without clearance from reaching certain areas. In terms of digital access, you need to consider what documents are essential to do particular roles and what can be restricted only to the senior management level – or even just business owners themselves.
2. Start with physical access control
Once you have identified the areas of your business that need to be controlled, you can then set about putting in place the systems that are going to protect your business. For example, in the first instance, you can control the cars that are coming in and out of the building with an automatic licence plate reader. You can then look to put in place keycards or even biometrics throughout the building in the essential areas. Once you have physical access control, you can then set about looking at digital access and how you are going to secure this.
3. Move onto digital access control
You next have to think about digital access and who is going to be able to access what. Of course, password protection is right at the heart of a digital access control strategy. However, you also need to make sure that you are using multi-factor authorization which is an increasingly important part of adding an extra layer of security to essential documents. You should also rely on software that already has a good reputation for security built into it. This way, you don’t have to worry about what else could be causing a problem as you know that you have a decent system of security that you can fall back on.
4. Make sure employees are well-trained
One of the top issues that can occur with regard to access control is that a breach occurs simply due to a poor level of training and a mistake. Training should be conducted in both physical and digital access to boost access control at your business. In terms of physical access, employees should feel comfortable challenging people who aren’t carrying badges as this is better than only relying on security staff to take care of everything. Personal digital security should also be put at the forefront of what you are teaching your staff members.
For example, they should certainly be encouraged to change passwords on a regular basis. Also, details of the latest phishing scams should be passed on. Ultimately, digital security is such a fast-moving area and it is important to keep this training as refreshed as possible.
5. Use data encryption where needed
One of the other ways that you are going to be able to add an extra layer of security is by using data encryption where needed. This means that certain very sensitive files are not going to be accessible if they fall into the wrong hands, this could have a very detrimental impact on your company and everything that you are trying to achieve. This way, there is an extra layer of protection so even if there is a data breach, you have peace of mind that not everything is at risk.
6. Review access control rights on a regular basis
As employee roles change, you need to make sure that you are keeping one eye to boost access control at your business at all times. This can go both ways. So, when an employee moves further up the ladder, they may well have access to documents that they would not be able to otherwise. By the same token, certain employees may need to lose access to certain documents as their roles change. At the worst end of the scale, you don’t want previous employees to have access to documents when they go to new roles as this is where leaks can start to occur, which obviously presents all sorts of issues.
7. Keep your network well-protected and monitored
A huge number of threats that can impact your business can occur through breaches of the network. With this in mind, it is vital that you are doing as much as possible to look after the network and keep it in a stable and protected state. This means having an expert team monitoring it on a regular basis for any unusual activity that they need to step in and deal with. At the same time, you should also take any attempts to access the network in an unauthorized way seriously. Without due care and attention, all sorts of issues can occur.
8. Keep up with changing regulations
Depending on the industry, access control issues might be dictated to you at a higher level. As these guidelines continue to change and evolve, it’s essential to do as much as possible to keep up with these changing regulations to boost access control at your business. After all, you don’t want to risk your business falling foul of anything when you could have easily stepped in and made the difference at an earlier stage.
9. Look for the latest tech
As threats to business evolve and change over time, it is more than likely that new tech is going to come out that will provide an additional layer of security. Therefore, you certainly need to do as much as possible to stay on top of the changes as they occur and put them in place at your business as and when this is needed.
All of these are amongst the different ways that you can boost access control at your business. Ultimately, you need to keep one eye on this at all times. The most likely issues are going to come in the digital world in the modern age. However, this doesn’t mean that you should simply forget about what can happen in the physical realm. The better protections you are putting in place across your entire business, the happier the outcomes are likely to be.
A big part of the problem often comes from employees. It could be that the breaches are intentional or accidental. For this reason, you must put in place a proper training strategy, but alongside this, you should also do more to keep boost access control at your business at the forefront of your mind. In terms of the people who may have nefarious intentions towards your company, you should keep up to date with all the latest access control software, as well as any new techniques and changes in the industry that may well be important.
