Business Security Checklist

Businesses must do more to protect assets, goods and data.

The challenges of the global economy have made protecting your business more important. With threats coming from all directions, it's important to prepare a business security checklist that protects your tangible goods, propriety information and data critical to operating. A strong business security checklist protects your three most important assets: your employees, your goods and your data.

Protecting Your Employees

Without good people, it's nearly impossible to do business in the global economy. Protect with the most basic security measure: working locks that are inspected every six months. Make sure all locks are kept with 40 inches of any glass, and make sure that all guests and visitors coming into the building are visible from the inside. Is the parking lot well-lit, with trees and shrubs cut below the window level? Is industrial equipment such as ladders, scaffolding and heavy tools properly stored and locked up to prevent accidents? Don't forget to develop an emergency evacuation plan, and make sure your fire-detection system is tested annually and that a list of emergency phone numbers is available to your entire staff.

Protecting Your Goods

A business is nothing without the tangible and untangible goods and services it creates. Supply is the currency of business, and it's important to take the necessary steps to protect your business' supply line. Are the exterior doors being used to protect your goods reinforced with metal or some type of solid-core construction, and are they fitted with deadbolts that extend a full inch into the strike plate? If there are hinge pins on the outside of the door, make sure they are non-removable. Make sure all business inventory is locked, photographed and kept in a secure location. Cash should not be kept on the premises unless it is stored in a safe.

Protecting Your Data

If your business collects private information such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers or even addresses and phone numbers, it's the law to ensure information remains private and protected. Do you regularly shred any paperwork containing customer data, and how long do you keep secure information on file? It's also important to follow best practices when accepting and storing credit card numbers. Work with your payment processor to ensure your business is PCI compliant --- you could be liable for any fraudulent charges that originate from a security breach at your business. Finally, make sure all systems that connect to the Internet are protected by firewalls. When in doubt, hire a computer security specialist.

References

• Business Security Checklist
• Data Security Checklist