There has never been so much talk about information security. The concept has gained new meanings in the digital environment, but remains just as important as in the physical world. Companies and organizations need to keep an eye on this aspect to protect employees, partners, and even suppliers.

It is no different for the third sector. Data protection and investment in technologies are two extremely important factors to convey credibility and generate public engagement in social causes. The matter is urgent, not least because the sustainability of NGOs depends on it.

It was with this scenario in mind that we prepared this article. We cover the concept of information security, its importance for the third sector, best practices, and main mistakes. Follow along!

What is information security?

Strategies and policies to protect the data of a system or an institution are called information security. We say they are secure when they are viewed only by authorized people. The normalcy of work and even the health of a company depend on it.

Monitoring actions are carried out so that data does not end up in the hands of malicious individuals. In the physical world, we hire security guards to protect our assets. Likewise, information in the digital environment needs to be preserved so that no one suffers losses.

In fact, cybercrimes have evolved significantly in recent years. There are traditional viruses, like those that clone pages to steal personal information. But there are also more robust attacks on the internal systems of the IT sector. The only way to combat them is to protect against them by adopting good practices.

In addition to actions focused on digital aspects, security also includes care for the physical protection of servers and archives. Threat detection, access control, video surveillance, and alerts in case of suspicious movements in the datacenter rooms. This way, only authorized employees can access this data.

Physical care also includes proper cooling, as well as actions to reduce environmental risks. The goal is to prevent fires, damage from seismic activities, and other phenomena and disasters that will affect the systems.

Pillars

The concept of information security is basically based on six pillars:

• confidentiality: prevents data from being accessed by unauthorized individuals. In practice, it concerns access control;

• integrity: relates to the quality of the information. It cannot be corrupted so as not to hinder its use, for example;

• availability: is the ability to access data when needed. Whenever an employee needs it, the information must be available;

• authenticity: this is the ability to identify the real sender of some message, without errors;

• compliance: means following the standards defined for the security sector;

• non-repudiation: Prevents the author from denying authorship of actions in the system, ensuring the authenticity of the information.

Importance for the third sector

In the third sector, security represents the protection of data of suppliers, donors, and partners, meaning people who invest directly in the organization's cause. Therefore, information, transfers, and forms of communication need to be protected to prevent crimimals from accessing any content. Prevention is also very important. It is like locking the door to prevent burglars from invading your home even when everything seems quiet and safe. It is acting in advance and ensuring that nothing bad will happen. It is up to the IT sector to implement preventive actions even if there is no threat in sight.

Investment in data protection reduces costs, as prevention implies less spending to recover the organization from a potential attack. In other words, your NGO only has to gain from this. After all, security actions generate credibility and trust. This makes it easier to form new partnerships and strengthen existing ones.

What are the best security practices?

Are you wondering what to do to improve information security in your NGO? We have listed the most important practices. Stay informed!

Antivirus and firewall

One of the classic resources is using antivirus software. It helps detect threats and clean internal systems, with periodic scans and frequent monitoring of computer activities. In other words, it is a tool that greatly assists in combating risks. You can also adopt firewalls, which function as barriers and filters against malicious access.

Security policies

Establishing comprehensive security policies is important. What does this mean, after all? We can define them as global planning of all defense actions to ensure that everything will be executed properly. Examples include user best practices, solutions adopted for protection, and recovery plans in case of incidents.

Backups

It is fundamental that your organization works with copies of company files. This way, if there is a problem, they will be available. Remember the action of locking the door even without the presence of burglars? It is like having two of an electronic device: if one stops working, the other will serve for a quick replacement.

Infrastructure management

Infrastructure management as a whole also deserves attention. Here, a warning is in order: it is important to invest in solutions that offer more benefits than headaches. One of them is cloud computing, which makes the servers and resources of the institution virtual.

This technology eliminates the costs of physical servers and offers support, monitoring, and security tools 24 hours a day, seven days a week. IT resources are available on the internet and are protected by the provider.

Security tests

It is important to conduct frequent tests on servers and applications. This is important to check for flaws or processes that are creating vulnerabilities and exposing companies to risks.

What are the main mistakes?

If there are best practices, there are also those that need to be discouraged. See below what the main mistakes are when it comes to information security!

Non-compliance with regulations

There is a variety of regulations on the subject. In Brazil, we have the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), for example. We recommend that you study it if you are unfamiliar with it. Although it may not have entered into force in the same way in all regions yet, it is important to adapt as soon as possible.

Lack of care by employees

All employees of the organization need to adopt good data security practices. That is, it is an obligation to follow the rules and not leave loopholes for malicious people. In practice, this includes:

• being careful with passwords;

• avoiding suspicious emails;

• avoiding misleading websites;

• better managing the use of peripheral devices;

• exercising caution with infected systems, etc.

Outdated software

Not updating internal systems is the same as leaving the computer free for criminals to access. They will certainly find security loopholes to exploit. Updates are essential to correct problems that generate risks.

Lack of risk management

The lack of global risk management is another mistake that must be avoided. Therefore, every project must consider possible protection failures so that resources can be improved based on increasingly efficient approaches. The tip is to stay alert. Talk to the IT team to understand how this can be done. 

LGPD: how to adapt?

We already talked about the LGPD, remember? It is the Brazilian regulation that addresses information security and privacy. All partner and donor data under the care of your organization, for example, must be protected.

According to this law, it is necessary to make clear what the need and purpose of using the information is even before collecting it. When the objective is achieved, the institution is responsible for removing it from its databases.

Under the regulation, processing actions on personal data can only occur with user consent. Furthermore, the LGPD demands more transparency in these relations. The question remains: how to adapt to it, after all?

To begin with, institutions need to clearly define their security parameters and, from there, formulate their best practices policy. It is also important to remove communication bottlenecks and, above all, count on the support of specialized companies, as they have extensive expertise in implementing secure, efficient, and highly cost-effective solutions.

As we have seen, information security is a set of extremely important strategies to protect data under an institution's custody. Investing in it is urgent, as it means preventing risks, improving reputation, and thus fostering support for your social causes. Think about it

Are you in need of accessible and secure solutions to make your project a reality? If the answer is yes, get in touch with Codebit! We are specialists in creating technology to improve people's lives.

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