ERP security is the first step to avoid a devastating impact on your organization. The purpose of an ERP system is to collect all business data into one application to better manage business processes. But having all your data in one place also increases the risk for threats. Luckily, there are many best practices your business can implement to protect your ERP against cyber-attacks.
Importance of protecting your ERP data
The information and data within an ERP software are some of the most critical and sensitive data in a business. Data security has become a concern and businesses has increased their cybersecurity and knowledge to identify and protect against internal and external cyber threats.
Human error is the primary cause of so many privacy and data breaches, so responsibility for keeping your solution and your data safe must be taken seriously by the ERP users as well as the ERP provider.
ERP Security Checklist
To keep your ERP protected and secure, it’s critical to establish appropriate controls. Breaches can often be traced back to an internal compromise such as a phishing attack. The potential security risks in an ERP software can be reduced by educating employees, having two-step verification and more frequent software and security updates.
- Strong and complex password
- Use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols
- Create a unique password for each application
- Implement two-factor authentication
- Install software updates
- Regularly installing ERP software updates addresses weaknesses that have been identified in the software. Cyber threats constantly change and hackers keep finding new wats to get around security, therefor installing the latest software update is vital for higher security.
- Include security training for employees
- Set up regular password changes for staff
- Create polices to avoid using personal devices in the working hours
- Review user rights and permissions regularly to ensure that company data is only available for selective staff access
Read more: 9 Simple Cyber Security Rules To Remember
Benefits of cloud ERP
With cloud ERP, the costs of managing security are much lower because it is included in the subscription from the ERP provider. Cloud providers have installed and maintained specialized systems for automated detection of suspicious activity.
Is Cloud ERP secure?
This is a question often asked by ERP users and business owners. Cloud ERP systems come with good security standards, but organizations still need to implement the additional controls around security like creating ERP secure login, user access, updating software and train employees.
How secure is Dynamics 365?
All of Microsoft’s cloud based products, including ERP systems like Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations are hosted on their own cloud platform Azure.
Microsoft also operates the Microsoft Cyber Defense Operations Center which is a cybersecurity and defense facility controlled by security experts and data scientists that work to protect Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, detecting and responding to threats 24/7. Microsoft invests over $1 billion a year in protecting the security of their users and their data information.
Dynamics 365 security model
Dynamics 365 provides an efficient role-based security framework to ensure data confidentiality at all levels with well-defined security roles and access controls. You can structure your data access authorizations, rights, and restrictions based on their user level.
Users of D365 Business Central are assigned a profile that reflects their business role, the department they work in, or another categorization. Profiles allow administrators to define and manage centrally what different user types can see and do in the user interface so they can perform their business tasks efficiently.
The D365 Business Central security system allows you to control which objects a user can access within each database or environment. You can specify for each user whether they are able to read, modify, or enter data in the selected database objects.
In Business Central, there are two levels of permissions to database objects:
- Overall permissions according to the license, also referred to as the entitlement.
- More detailed permissions as assigned from within Business Central.
The five access levels supported by Dynamics 365 security model are:
- Global – Access to all records held by the organization
- Deep – Access to all records under a business unit and child units
- Local – Access to all records within a business unit
- Basic – access to data records within a team
- None – No access permitted
User privileges are categorized into seven types:
- Create — user is able to add a new record
- Read — user is able to view a record
- Write — user is able to edit a record
- Delete — user is able to delete a record
- Append — user is able to connect or associate other entities with a parent record
- Append to — user is able to connect or associate other entities with a record
- Assign — user is able to give ownership of a record to another user
- Share — user is able to give access to a record to another user
Each of these privileges can be assigned different levels of access, restricting which entities they apply to depending on ownership, and location within the business.
Read more: Dynamics 365 Benefits: 5 Advantages of Having ERP from Microsoft
Conclusion
Data security is essential to the reputation of your company. Practicing security protocols and understanding right security user roles for employees is crucial to support the Dynamics 365 security model.
If you have questions about ERP security or Dynamics 365 security model, contact us today. Let us help you configure security for your business with maximum efficiency.
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