3 Basic Information Security Standards You Should Be Meeting

With over 80% of today's business operations now stored digitally, the need for good information security measures is at an all-time high. Companies, including small businesses, are starting to realize the importance of safeguarding their sensitive information. In response, solutions providers are offering newer, better products to meet those demands.

Regardless of the type of business you are running, there are actually three basic information security measures you must consider. We are going to review those three measures in this article.


The first measure of basic information security is secure storage. This is a relatively easy challenge to tackle now that encryption and other security standards are more common. You can apply system-wide encryption and have all of your files automatically protected from prying eyes.

Of course, encryption is just the start. There are different levels of encryption to choose from, along with specific features, such as support for private encryption keys and multiple encryption stages. Depending on how sensitive your data and business information is, you may want to have these measures put in place too.

The type of data storage used to store information matters too. Today, there are multiple network-attached storage (NAS) solutions designed specifically for different businesses. They support RAID and mirroring for added security, making these NAS solutions even more suitable for business use.


The second thing to focus on is data transmission. Whether it is from one computer or terminal to the other within an intranet, or from a cloud server to remote users, every data transmission needs to be secured properly.

In many ways, the business world can learn a lot from the standards implemented by the healthcare industry. Thanks to the implementation of HIPAA, we now have technologies such as secure text messaging helping healthcare professionals communicate with each other in a more secure way.

SSL security is still the most widely used standard when it comes to securing data transmissions. It is obviously not the only measure you can put in place, but it's a good start.

It is also a security measure that you have to implement if you have a front-end website used by customers directly, since SSL security means protecting those customers' personal information and inducing credibility.


The last basic measure is a proper disaster recovery procedure. This is a two-part strategy that involves putting in place a good backup routine and a thorough recovery policy for dealing with catastrophic disasters. In the event of a drive failure, for example, being able to restore data from the cloud and resume business operations in a matter of minutes is the kind of advantage you want to have in a market as competitive as today.

While these are the three basic information security measures every business needs, the way they are implemented is entirely up to you and your specific requirements. Simply make sure you have these three basics covered before moving on to the more advanced security measures to have proper information security for your business.