Ever since the big Target and Home Depot data breaches late in 2013, it seems that the news has been flooded with further examples of retailers and other businesses having their data compromised.

Here are some lessons that can be taken away from these incidents and applied to your business:

• Endpoint security. The majority of these breaches involved vulnerable point of sale or other systems with direct employee interaction. Unchanged, weak or no-passwords are often to blame. Improve security between these systems and other servers that are necessary for your business functions. In addition to passwords, make sure your systems get all the latest software updates and improvements promptly.
• Testing. Once security measures are in place, the need extensive testing in order to ensure they will work when you need them to. As advancements in this field happen quickly, testing needs to occur often and at regular intervals.
• Policy. Creating a comprehensive security policy is essential to ensure strong, consistent security measures across all devices.
• Vigilance. Maintaining security requires constant effort. Knowing your systems and the industry and anticipating potential vulnerabilities are necessary to maintaining your systems and your overall business.
• Plan for the worst. Do everything you can to prevent a data breach, but, if one happens, be prepared for it. Put together a response plan that details how your company will act following the incident. The knowledge and experience that an outside disaster recovery consulting firm has can be valuable to these efforts. 

In order to streamline continuity planning and eliminate the chance that a key aspect of operations will be missed, invest in expert consulting advice to go over your strategy with you and point out weak spots or potential problems.