If you read most of our posts, we constantly praise enterprise resource planning software (ERP) and all the benefits these systems provide to businesses across industries. An ERP system should manage and integrate all aspects of a company's processes, such as inventory management, accounting, human resources, customer relationship management, and purchasing. However, there are vulnerabilities in enterprise resource planning software that must be addressed.
How can you protect your system from data breaches and cyber threats?
Given the centralization of critical business data and functions, every organization should consider the security of ERP systems as a major legal and financial issue.
Ensuring security within an ERP system requires sophisticated policies, controls, and measures to prevent unauthorized access and cyber threats. These policies include protecting data integrity, ensuring system availability, and maintaining the confidentiality of all ERP software modules.
Avoid data leakage in the ERP system
Due to the complexity and interconnectedness of ERP systems, a simple data breach can result in significant disruption to business operations and significant financial losses.
A real-world example: Equifax's 2017 data breach
The Equifax data breach in 2017, which affected approximately 147 million people, clearly illustrates the importance of ERP security. Equifax's failure to properly secure its network led to a breach that not only cost the company millions of dollars but also caused millions of identity theft victims.
Cybercriminals exploited a vulnerability in Equifax's database that exposed millions of people's names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, physical addresses, and other personal information.
The breach led to a settlement of at least $575 million, highlighting the urgent need for strong ERP security measures to protect sensitive data and maintain public trust.
Cloud ERP and Data security
Over the years, we've heard growing concerns about cybersecurity from businesses using and evaluating ERP systems. Our recommendation is to update frequently to a cloud ERP system.
Here's why...
Many businesses rely on outdated ERP systems that lack vendor support and updates and are vulnerable to security threats. When cloud ERP was a newer deployment option, the early issue was data security because servers were not considered private servers in a cloud environment.
This is an outdated view of the cloud, and we can now demonstrate how cloud ERP can change and improve security.
Cloud ERP systems can significantly improve your database security in several ways:
Provide the most advanced encryption technology.
Ensure regular security updates.
Enable continuous monitoring.
Provides built-in security features such as:
Multi-factor authentication
Role-based access control
Automated backup
Helps protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and potential vulnerabilities.
Leverage cloud service providers' advanced security protocols and infrastructure.
Cloud ERP providers employ dedicated security teams that proactively identify and address vulnerabilities to ensure systems remain resilient to emerging threats.
The centrality of cloud ERP also means that security policies and updates can be applied uniformly across the organization, reducing the risk of security inconsistencies and breaches. As a result, businesses can focus on their core operations, confident that their data is protected by the robust, up-to-date security protocols offered by cloud ERP systems.
We offer an insightful white paper from leading ERP provider CETEC to further support businesses in understanding and implementing effective ERP security measures.