Data security: what to pay attention to

A product list, balances and purchase prices are commercial information. If they reach a competitor, a supplier or a stranger, trading terms, mark-ups and even the weak spots in a warehouse are exposed. Data usually leaks not through a serious attack but for ordinary reasons: a lost phone, a shared password, a file dropped into a Telegram group. Below are rules that give strong protection for little effort.

What needs protecting

The list of things to protect is longer than it seems:

• the product list and balances;
• purchase prices and supplier names;
• shortage and difference amounts, which show where the warehouse is weak;
• the staff list and their access rights.

One question is enough for each item: who needs to see this? Anyone who does not need to see it should not.

Account and password

Agree written rules with staff in advance: count data is used only for the count, is not passed to third parties and is not photographed. It is a single sheet that prevents disputes later. The rules for accounts and passwords are:

• Give each employee a separate account. With a shared login nobody can tell who did what, and the password spreads to everyone anyway.
• Make passwords long: twelve characters or more. A phrase of several random words beats a complex eight-character password and is easier to remember. Never reuse a password from elsewhere.
• If two-step verification (an SMS or an app code) is available, switch it on: even if one password leaks, the account stays protected.
• Do not write a password on a sticker and stick it on the monitor or the storeroom wall. A password manager is safer.
• Once a quarter, check whose accounts are active: removing unused accounts is the cheapest security measure.
• Disable an employee's account on the day they leave. Access for one-off helpers and an outside team should also be closed as soon as the count ends.

Phone and tablet

A counting device in a warehouse gets dropped, lost and passed from hand to hand, so the device itself needs protection. On many modern phones, with the screen lock on, the memory is stored encrypted and a finder cannot read the contents. Without a lock that protection barely works. So:

• switch on the screen lock (PIN, fingerprint) and set auto-lock to a minute or two;
• keep the system and apps updated, since updates close security holes;
• install apps only from the official store;
• give an app only the permissions it needs: the camera yes, contacts and microphone usually no;
• turn on "Find my device" in advance, so a lost phone can be locked remotely;
• on shared warehouse phones make signing in at the start of a shift and out at the end a rule.

If personal phones are used, make sure no data remains on them after the count: sign out of the app, delete downloaded files, clear temporary data. Work information should not leave with the employee.

Files and sending them

Do not drop the count list and the result into a general chat. Send them to the person who needs them, or use a folder with restricted access. Do not exchange data over open Wi-Fi in a market or café. Mind screenshots too: a photo of the list screen sent to a personal chat is a common route for a leak. Say so in the rules. The file for counters does not need a purchase price column: deleting an unneeded column is the easiest protection there is. Put old files into a tidy archive or delete them, so they do not sit for years in chat and mail history. A backup matters too: keep the result file in at least two places, so one broken phone does not destroy the data.

If a phone is lost: the first hour

1. Tell the manager at once.
2. Disable sign-in for that account and change the password.
3. If possible, locate the phone remotely, lock it or wipe its data.
4. Look at the activity log: were there unusual downloads or changes?
5. Write down what happened: when, where, and what data was on the device.

Conclusion

Data security depends less on complex technology than on habits: a personal account, a long password, a locked phone, careful sending and a quick reaction. If you work with an outside team, agree a written confidentiality term and decide in advance which files go to whom. StockCheck runs the count with its team and hands over the result as Excel, PDF or a file for 1C.