In today’s era of relentless digital connectivity, safeguarding customer personal data has evolved from a suggestion to a legal and ethical imperative. The vulnerability of sensitive information has become a primary topic in modern day discourse. This blog will unpack how to preserve the safety of your user’s personal data, and how to make business decisions with this in mind.
Let’s Start with Basics… and Keep it Basic
If you focus on only collecting data that is actually vital to your marketing efforts, you’ll do two things:
- Decrease the external value of your data.
- Increase consumer confidence.
Hackers are less likely to steal “low-value” data (e.g., if all a hacker has to gain from you is a list of email addresses, they might not put forth the effort). But, if you’re collecting names, phone numbers, location data, household income, etc., then your data becomes more valuable. The greater number of data points that your company collects, the more valuable it likely is to outsiders.
Only collecting vital data can increase consumer confidence, too. When you’re collecting data that doesn’t seem necessary to the consumer, they might place less faith in your company.
Whats the First Line of Defense Once You’ve Captured the Data?
So, you’ve captured the data from your users. Now what? At the center of online security lies the fortification of passwords. The age of passwords being ‘abc123’ has unequivocally passed; robust, unique passwords are paramount to preventing cyber attacks. But beyond this, ensuring 2-Factor authentication is supported on your site is the next best method of protection.
This multifaceted defense mechanism allows more “memorable” passwords to be used, while ensuring secure logins can only be conducted after receiving a unique code to your cell phone.
Vigilance through Timely Software Updates
If your product goes through frequent iterations, providing your end-users with software updates that further encrypt their information. Timely patches are synonymous with reinforcing your users’ online persona, and if done correctly, can save you money and heartache in the long run!
Why Should You Care?
When a business deals with a cyberattack of data breach, its operations can come to a screeching halt. Protecting customer data is more than just an ethical issue, it’s a legal one. If a business fails to comply with applicable privacy regulations, they could find themselves facing a lawsuit and usually a financial repercussion.
One of the lasting effects of non-compliance with data privacy laws is: reputational damage. For instance, you are probably familary with the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica scandal. It became infamous for its data scandal in 2014-15, in which private data from Facebook users was used to create voter profiles.
The best way to minimize the impact of a data breach is to prevent it altogether, instituting policies and best practices like:
- Only collecting customer data that is vital to business operations.
- Implementing data governance controls like user-based access to highly sensitive data and automatic data masking.
- Regularly auditing data and prodiving updates to users
- Ensuring passwords are extra secure with mandatory 2FA
However, if a data breach has occurred, there are ways to mitigate the fallout. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends acting fast. You should have a plan in action in place to respond to a potential data breach, like immediately locking down access to certain operations and systems and consulting with legal counsel. You’ll also likely need to report the incident to both customers (if their data was at risk or leaked) and law enforcement.
It may seem daunting to begin establishing a security-compliance strategy for your business. My Social Biz recommends starting small, collecting only necessary data and ensuring that you have full consent to do so (e.g GDPR). On top of this, frequent audits to pressure-test your current protection mechanisms is a great way to patch problems before they blow up. Still overwhelmed by how to get your data in order? Drop us a message for a free consultation on improving your data-policy today olivia@mysocialbiz.net