IT Security - Best Practices and How They Apply to Your Business

There is more to following best practices than just using common sense.

If you ran a restaurant, you’d certainly follow best practices pertaining to the cleanliness of your food prep areas - as the last thing you want is for the Health Department to close you down!

If you ran a brokerage house, you’d certainly follow best practices pertaining to trades, disclosures, and more - as the last thing you want is for the SEC to close you down!

If you ran an accounting firm you’d certainly follow best practices pertaining to keeping your debits and credits in line - for the last thing you want is for the auditors to question your record keeping!

The same can be said across just about any business operation today; best practices are what keep businesses running smoothly - which is especially pertinent and increasingly necessary, in the IT world today.  With the ever present risk of security breaches, data leaks, system thefts/losses, malware, spyware, and everything else that can wreak havoc on the network, we anticipate that a solution provider is not only aware of best practices but applying them in every aspect of the installation. Given that data breaches can be more costly than one ever imagined, steps need to be taken to ensure the data is safe. It takes more than common sense these days - and one error can quickly result in a legal mess that could go on for years!

There have been many recent discussions among CompTIA members on the requirement for further industry accreditations, certifications and certificates in new and developing areas like Managed Services, Cloud/SaaS and Healthcare IT. This is in addition to the continual need to update valued programs like Security + and Security Trustmark to ensure relevance in today’s security landscape. These accreditations and certifications serve as validation that an individual (or in some cases a business) is indeed up to date, understands, and is applying best practices when developing solutions for their customers.

What are your thoughts on best practices?  How do you apply them in your business today?  And what differentiates best practices from good old common sense?