The United States outsourced 14.3 million job positions in 2015. That isn’t a new trend and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. When a business is outsourcing services, they have to ensure that they are protecting their information and data. This is important for the company itself, but also for the clients and customers the business works with. Keep your data safe when outsourcing your services by learning about proper practices and business security below.
Outsourcing Services and Business Security
Although outsourcing is commonly done, a lot of people are wary about it due to potential security issues. Here are some things that you can do to reduce risk and maximize benefits from outsourcing your services. 
1. Security Policy
You have to know what your organization is doing with security before you start exposing yourself with outsourcing. Have a good security policy that is clear and rational. It should include information about data classification, such as distinguishing between common data and sensitive data. You also need to have clear guidelines, practices, and standards. The instructions stated in the policy must be agreed upon by everyone that has employee access. This may include stakeholders or investors as well.
2. Protect the Data
Data monitoring gateways and application layer firewalls are needed before you can outsource. These devices will ensure you have extra protection when enforcing usage policies. Make sure that the vendor you choose has both of these options for better data security.
3. Leak Proof Traffic
You will want to ensure that the vendor you select checks the outbound traffic and emails for any potential leaks. By performing these checks, you are much less likely to have leaks in your system.
4. Choose the Best Service
Again, you need to have a good vendor of your services! You want to choose a vendor that has a strict security policy and that the procedure is followed to the letter. The vendor has to have rules in place that will protect your data from being replicated or copied to external devices, including portable devices, to have better security.
5. Network Security Audits
Make sure that regular network security audits are performed for application and database security. This is going to make the chances of secure outsourcing that much higher. Audits can help you to find any potential risks or issues with the applications, devices, and databases that serve the network.
6. Teach How to Handle Data
You want to check that the vendor has educated the employees about the best way to handle and protect your sensitive and common data. This is crucial because if they don’t know what they are doing, something is going to go wrong, and your business will be caught in the crosshairs. If you want your data to be secure, you need to make sure that people that handle the data know how to do it safely. 
Update Your Security Today
To provide outsourcing services, you need to have proper security in place already. Once your business is secure, you need a vendor that can also provide updated protection for all of the data involved! If you’re interested in outsourcing a small business project, read our article on that topic to see if it is the best idea for your business.
