After Sony Hack, 3 Things Businesses Are Doing Differently

In the wake of the large-scale hack of Sony Pictures late last year, businesses have begun implementing security measures to prevent being victimized by a similar attack.

As Bloomberg reports, unlike previous data breaches, which were primarily focused on financial data and trade secrets, the Sony hack included the release of a large amount of personal information on Sony employees. This information included details on employee pay, medical records, and confidential correspondence between Sony employees.

What can businesses to prevent similar data breaches from occurring in the future? Here are three ways some businesses are improving their data security:

1. Goodbye email; hello telephone. Instead of opting for the latest in cybersecurity technology, some businesses are deciding to take an old-school approach: Using the telephone. Especially in light of the embarrassing email conversations leaked as part of the Sony hack, business owners and employees may want to consider becoming much more cautious about what they commit to digital memory.
2. Shortened, restricted email storage. A decidedly more high-tech method for cutting down on the risk of emails falling into the wrong hands is to shorten the amount of time old emails are kept on your company's storage network; some companies are shortening this retention period to 30 days. Businesses may also want to limit individual employee's ability to store email messages on their own computer hard drives.
3. Check with accounting, legal departments regarding record-retention requirements. Of course, any revamping of email and document storage policies may need to be tempered by legal or practical reasons why specific types of documents should be retained for a period of time, reports the Phoenix Business Journal. Be sure to check with your company's legal and accounting personnel to ensure that any changes to your storage policies are in compliance with record retention requirements.

Find more tips on protecting your business at FindLaw's section on Small Business Law.

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Related Resources:

• After Sony hack attack, companies are curtailing email use and storage (ABA Journal)
• Keeping Your Business Data Safe: 5 Tips (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)
• Is Target Liable for Massive Data Breach? (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)
• 3 Simple Ways Businesses Can Thwart Hackers (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)