6 Ways To Protect Your Assets From Physical And Digital Threats

An asset refers to anything that has value to an organization or individual, and it’s no exaggeration to say that assets are the lifeline of any entity. This is especially true for business owners, regardless of their industry. For example, if you’re running a manufacturing company, your assets, which may come in the form of equipment, are what’s running the show. The same goes for e-commerce companies that rely primarily on digital assets (e.g., images, videos, and applications).

For that reason, it’s only proper for you to protect your assets, be it from physical or digital threats. On that note, if you’re having a hard time accomplishing that, the following tips should come in handy:

  • Hire Or Consult With An Expert

As always, if you intend to engage in an endeavor you’re not confident in, one of the best options is to work with an expert. In this case, that expert would be an IT security company if you’re primarily dealing with digital assets or an asset integrity and reliability management agency if it’s mostly for physical assets.

Of course, you may have to spend a significant amount of money on this option. You will, however, get to achieve your goal without investing too much time. Furthermore, if you manage to find an excellent agency, they’ll be able to protect your assets better than you can on your own.

  • Restrict Access To Only Those Who Need It

It’s a common practice among businesses to give all employees the same level of access to company assets. Sure, it’s convenient, but it’s not practical, nor is it safe for your assets.

For starters, if you continue down this path, the next time an employee falls victim to phishing or other social engineering tactics, all your digital assets will fall right into the hands of hackers. As such, it’s best if you restrict access to digital assets to only those that need them.

For example, instead of allowing everyone in the company to acquire data concerning marketing campaigns, you can limit access to only the marketing department. Or better yet, you can outsource the entire department so you no longer have to provide access to such information to employees in the first place. Speaking of which, if you’re a managed service provider (MSP), you might want to look into hiring a seasoned MSP marketing company to boost your marketing efforts.

  • Keep A Record Of All Your Assets

Even with the maximum level of security and protection, you may still find your assets stolen or exploited in some way. While it’s undoubtedly disastrous, you can minimize the damage by immediately taking care of the issue. However, that might prove to be difficult if the deed was done discreetly. That’s why it’s advisable to keep a record of every asset you own.

By doing so, you can ensure that whenever there’s an abnormality with a particular asset, you can act fast to solve the problem. This applies to physical and digital assets alike.

  • Enforce More Security Measures 

It might seem that you’re overdoing asset protection at times, but remember that no amount of security is too much, even if you’re operating a small business.

Hence, if you feel as though there are still vulnerabilities in your system, you might want to enforce more security measures such as the following to protect assets against all sorts of threats:

  • CCTV cameras
  • Alarm systems
  • Access control systems
  • Firewall
  • Incident response software
  • Control access programs
  • Keep Your Software Up-To-Date

If your business mainly uses digital assets, it’s advisable that you keep your software up-to-date for several reasons. When software is outdated, it’s more likely to suffer from bugs or malfunctions. This can affect many things, including the software’s level of security, which hackers can take advantage of to gain access to the digital assets the software may contain.

Also, cybercriminals update their tools regularly. If your software can’t keep up, it’s only a matter of time before they can get into your system and exploit your digital assets.

In short, keeping your software up-to-date should be one of your priorities. Besides, even physical objects like heavy equipment use or benefit from software, so this tip applies to tangible assets, too.

  • Create A Backup Of Your Files

Data loss is among the most common issues when it comes to digital files. It happens pretty frequently for various reasons, and there’s no surefire way to eliminate its possibility.

With that in mind, create a backup of your files to ensure that your digital assets won’t be deleted permanently in the case of data loss. You can do so by simply copying the assets and saving them on a hard drive, preferably one that’s separate from the location of the original copy.

Final Words 

The gap between the physical and digital world is narrowing with every passing day. While you might be mainly using digital assets, they’d still be affected by your physical assets. Similarly, physical assets can be impacted by digital assets. Hence, if you plan on protecting them, you should keep your business safe from physical and digital threats. Only then can you say that your assets are truly secure.