We talk a lot about data security here on the blog. But there’s a reason for that. It’s critical to business success to maintain a high degree of security. Lax security can result in massive data hacks, leaked confidential information, even customer privacy breaches. To make sure your business is putting forth your best effort to keep things secure, here are 3 data security musts to keep your business protected.
Effective Identity Validation Is Critical
Large data breaches are often linked back to a simple and common problem: bad passwords or mistaken identity. Even today in a heightened digital security environment, there are a number of common mistakes that can have serious consequences when it comes to protecting online information. Using strong passwords should be a top priority. That means passwords that are unique to the account, that are easy to remember but hard to guess, and that are complex enough to deter or at least slow down the hackers looking to make an easy buck.
Also, consider incorporating newer technologies such as Single Sign-On (SSO) or Multi-Factor Authorization (MFA) to differentiate your company from others depending on confusing and easily hacked password protection that all your competitors are still basing their user experience in.
Encrypt Customer Data
It’s well worth asking your IT team to encrypt all sensitive information that you have in your networks. Using extensive firewalls and strong encryption will help protect your electronic information. It’s the equivalent of shredding paper bills and documents, which you should also be doing on behalf of your customers. To take your security efforts one step further, consider taking additional measures to protect sensitive credit card and ACH payment information, by replacing numbers with X’s when displaying private information, and never storying security code numbers. This helps ensure your customers that you take their privacy seriously, building trust, and growing your business through a strong reputation.
Ensure You Are in Compliance
Compliance is an important part of why you need to keep customer data safe and secure. If you are not in compliance, not only is that information at risk, but your business is at risk of heavy fines and citations that could do your company real harm. Review the security standards outlined by institutions such as The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), and make sure you comply with their standards. If your invoice-to-cash process is outsourced, work with a company that is SSAE16 audited. Customers often evaluate businesses by their security reputation, so make sure you are crossing your T’s and dotting your I’s when it comes to your data security. New and influential privacy regulations such as GDPR are throwing these issues into stark relief. Make sure you are ahead of the curve and ensure you are in full compliance.
Sleep better at night.
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