Last year, hackers executed attacks against more than 1,000 organizations and looted over 700 million records, according to the data security firm Gemalto. Of course, as technology improves, these attacks will only become more frequent, as cyberthieves develop new methods for invading secured servers and stealing essential business information. With this in mind, enterprises using manufacturing ERP software must take steps to secure their data as best they can.

If you're interested in ramping up your security protocols to ward off hackers, review these essential ERP security strategies:

Classify your data
In most cases, cyberthieves target only valuable information. For instance, the intruders that invaded the servers at the file-sharing giant Dropbox back in 2012 went directly after user account information, Motherboard reported. Chances are, these hackers passed up all sorts of non-essential data to reach the 60 million user credentials they eventually released for public consumption. So, before you start developing a security strategy for your ERP, review your digital assets and assign them security levels. You first want to focus your attention on data that, if compromised, could do immediate harm to you, your vendors and customers, ERP Software Blog advised.

Once you understand just how valuable your information is, you can craft tailored security protocols to fit specific assets.

Build an airtight plan
Effective ERP security plans cover a number of essential areas. Internal system access is often a primary concern for organizations with such software, Deloitte found. When you consider the available information on the subject, this makes perfect sense. Data security experts estimate that individuals with system access are responsible for more than 40 percent of all data breaches, according to Info Security.

To protect yourself against internal data mismanagement – both intentional and unintentional – institute a strict, role-based permissions scheme. This way, only the most trusted and savvy system users can directly access essential business data. Additionally, you will want to pair this with a change management plan that includes instructions on how to revoke access to users who have resigned or been terminated. You don't want disgruntled workers walking out the door with active ERP credentials.

Of course, no matter what protocols you put in place, breaches are still possible and you must be prepared handle them. If you're working with an on-premise solution, draft incident reports and response procedures and develop an in-depth emergency response plan. Conversely, if you have cloud-based manufacturing ERP software, you will need to collaborate with your vendor and review the services they offer.

Don't forget mobile
In the event that you have an ERP solution with mobile capabilities, you will need to develop data security protocols to address device use and offsite access. To start, figure out how you plan to manage and track devices. Organizations big and small lose company-owned devices regularly and, on occasion, these lost smartphones and tablets end up in the hands of hackers, Information Week reported. You can avoid this situation by carefully tracking your devices, especially when users leave the company. If you have a bring-your-own-device policy in place, you will need to organize a system for wiping company data from devices owned by departing personnel.

Give employees best-practices for keeping their equipment secure as well. For instance, advise them how to identify questionable apps that could be fronts for data-extracting Trojan horse viruses. Of course, ask them to stick to common, web-based software stores like the Android Marketplace and iTunes.

Document everything
After you've developed your ERP security plan, document it. This strategy must outlast the administrators and users it serves, so avoid relying on corporate oral history. Instead, put together an editable online portal that includes all of your security protocols and give every employee in your organization access.

Empower your personnel
When it comes to enterprise data security, policies are only as effective as the their practitioners. In short, your employees need to know a thing or two about protecting the company data they access. With this in mind, organize some training to address key topics such as how to draft a secure password.

These credentials are the first line of defense against data-hungry hackers and must be built to stand up to decryption tools that can formulate thousands of guesses in seconds. Effective passwords are usually on the long side and contain an array of evenly dispersed special characters, Wired reported. It's also important that you advise employees to create unique passwords for their ERP accounts. Reusing an existing password is never smart and can result in multiple accounts being compromised.

With these ERP security strategies, you can keep out the cyberthieves and keep the executives in the C-suite happy.