Business today relies on gathering information for marketing purposes and fulfilling orders, yet having that information can cause problems concerning security and how much your customers (and potential customers) trust you.
In order to show that you are trustworthy and that you take your clients’ information safety seriously, there are some critical steps you can take.
Create A Privacy Policy
The first thing you can do to ensure that your customer knows their data is safe with your business is to create a privacy policy that they can read and that you will follow. In order to write a successful privacy policy you need to include:
- What information your company collects
- What you do with that information
- Whether or not your business shares any of that information and if so who with
- What security measures you take to ensure the information is kept safe
- Where the data is stored
Keep Up To Date
Software will always need to be updated at some point when new versions are created, and it is important to install these updates. After all, if you are running your business on the latest versions of your programs, you will be able to deliver an excellent service.
The crucial thing to remember when it comes to updates is to do them as soon as possible. You may currently have a policy that means you wait until you reach a quieter period in your business so as not to disturb the work and to give you a less impactful downtime, but this can cause problems and can even increase the risk of a cyber attack.
Encrypt Data
Less than 50 percent of small business say that they encrypt their customers’ sensitive data, and that gives them a significant weakness. If you want to show that you are taking security seriously and that your customers can trust you with their data, encrypting that information is a great way to do it.
Payment cards are usually encrypted by default when they are being used in a transaction, but if you store them (perhaps because there will be ongoing payments), you will certainly need to look into how to encrypt the information within your business. Don’t forget that it’s not just the payment information that needs to be kept safe; personal details such as names and addresses do too.
Test, Test, And Retest
If you have a system in place that keeps your customers’ information safe, you may think you have done enough, but you must keep testing the vulnerabilities within that system just in case hackers are able to get into it and steal the information. Technology changes over time, so what was once secure may not be anymore. Have a data recovery service on hand, such as Secure Data Recovery, to put everything back together if your testing shows up problems, and then make your business all the more secure, learning as you go.
Train Your Staff
Sometimes it is purely human error that allows for your customer data to be found and used by cybercriminals. Therefore it is essential to train your staff not only on how to keep this information safe, but why it is crucial as well. Once they have all the details, they will be more aware of potential issues and weaknesses and much more alert to the dangers, ensuring that the information is a lot safer.
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