Churches collect and store a plethora of data these days. Protecting that information should be a top priority for church leaders.
Threats to your data can include both internal and external means. Internally, hardware can crash or files can be lost, destroyed, or misplaced. A once faithful employee may become disgruntled and steal data. Externally, systems can be lost due to natural disasters or a fire. Scammers can also take over entire systems in a split second if given an opportunity. The external threats are upgrading their systems daily and never stop working to gain access to your servers.
The first step to protecting your church’s data is to recognize the threat. The next step is to consider all of the types of data your church currently stores, uses, and handles. This might include databases of member info, sermons, newsletters, graphics, governmental documents such as meeting minutes and founding documents, and more! All of this data is typically stored across multiple computers, smart phones, servers, filing cabinets, online apps, and other means.
Consider for a moment if your membership database became public or you suddenly lost access. What would the consequences to such a loss be? Just imagine the nightmare of trying to close that Pandora’s Box once it is open! This is a case where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Protecting your membership database and giving information is critical. Some ways to reduce your risks include:
- Reducing the number of databases. Ideally, you have one database of your membership data with a backup saved.
- Perform multiple daily backups or have your database automatically backed up.
- Store a copy of your database backup to an off-site server. This protects that information in the case of a regional disaster.
Some other measures you can take to protect church data:
- Lock up server rooms.
- Make sure passwords meet minimum policy requirements and are not easily guessable.
- Keep your internet firewalls up to date and tested.
- Filter out spam messages in employee email.
- Back up your entire system daily and save that backup for a minimum of two weeks.
- Educate church staff on the importance of data security, warn them about phishing emails, etc.
While you can’t plan for everything, you can plan for many different instances of disaster or attack. It is important to be on the offensive when it comes to protecting your church data.