Make this a priority of your IT department. Guard your internal passwords closely. Your system administrator should be constantly monitoring and changing passwords, making sure that they are not common or easily accessed. Always use encryption to store your vulnerable data. After that, it's easy sailing unless your data are encrypted.
Encryption takes data and uses a predefined key to jumble the information.
The only way to use the information is to decrypt it with the same key. As computers get faster it becomes easier to break encryption. Erase all storage hardware before you get rid of it. If you're getting rid of any type of data storage hardware, clean it. This includes drives, disks, tapes, and even paper.