The dangers of unauthorized access

Companies must provide certain personnel with access to various confidential materials. These documents can help staff members finish their daily responsibilities but could be damaging if they fall into the wrong hands.

Take a look at some of the dangers presented to companies if they fail to safeguard confidential materials.

1. Unauthorized disclosure of information
Companies make specific materials private for many reasons, and the unauthorized disclosure of information can happen if they fail to effectively safeguard their content. Employees who can easily access these materials can deliver the information to competitors or hackers or could use it for personal financial gain. Additionally, this unauthorized disclosure can harm a company's reputation and could serve as a black mark on its otherwise sterling operations.

There are several ways businesses can prevent the unauthorized release of confidential materials. Companies can monitor network traffic to identify potential releases of secure information, and they can also use vulnerability assessment tools to constantly update its security systems, thus ensuring that they stay ahead of data breach threats.

2. Interruption of regular operations
A system interruption could hinder a company's ability to maintain its productivity. Supervisors need to review the cause of a service interruption, find an answer and implement this solution, and this process could require an extensive amount of time to complete. Meanwhile, an unauthorized worker could continue to harm a company since the business failed to control access to certain materials.

Portable document format (PDF) files are helpful to companies that want to limit access to secure information. These files include a variety of content, such as pictures and text, and can be password-protected. A business can enhance its document security by requiring its workers to use PDFs and ensuring that they password-protect confidential materials.

Eliminating or reducing access to an "Admin" login is also useful. Many companies establish this username to make it easy for employees to view documents - workers are able to quickly access information, but all staff members can view the same files with the same login.

An effective alternative is to provide each worker with a unique username and password. This allows a company to monitor each staff member's activities, and if a problem arises, business managers can approach a single employee about his or her actions.