Five ways to better secure your clients data

 

Data is power and to quote Peter Parker, a character from the Spider-Man comic books written by Stan Lee, “With great power comes great responsibility.” 

Here are 5 ways to secure your clients data and send encrypted messages to your customers. They will thank you with loyalty, increased trust and repeat business. 

1. Only collect data you are going to use
   Know what data is essential to your business survival and marketing efforts. By decreasing the external value of your data, you lessen the risks of cyber security attacks and your customers will have far more confidence to share what you’ve asked for. Customers will be more appeasing to answer the basics, and as your relationship builds, you can slowly start adding to their profile to build a more robust view of them.
   Ask yourself: How does this data help us meet their needs?Audit your data collection regularly to ensure you are compliant with applicable Data Privacy Laws. 
2. Limit access to data
   Everyone uses data differently, ensure that your organization is structured so that only the people who need access, who are properly trained and contracted can gain access to valuable customer data.
   By limiting the access, you lessen the vulnerability for your business. You make it easier to manage when there is a shift in staff movements and your training is more manageable as well as the level of responsibility within your team, for that one person who has access must be the one to answer for any discrepancies. This limits the finger pointing should things go wrong. 
3. Password management tools
   Reduce the risks of hacks by requiring appointed staff with access to data to use a password management tool, this will boost your cybersecurity. We’re expected to remember a lot, so employees tend to select easy to remember and homogeneous passwords – One password for all tools, to make their lives easier – We get it!
   A password management tool can help employees create and store complex passwords for access to sensitive software that your team uses. A good password management tools use complex encryption for the passwords they store. 
4. Avoid data silos
   Data silos refers to different pieces of data being stored in various places. This often leads to data being stored in non-approved, unsecured applications. It can also result in you losing track of where certain data is stored. If you can’t remember where the data was stored, when will you realize that you may have had a data breach.

Develop a customer data management strategy. This will help detail exactly where and how data is handled. This will help prevent employees from storing data in multiple tools. A data tracking plan can help you keep track of what data you’re collecting and why you’re collecting it, making data audits a breeze further down the line.

1. Set your security standards
   our data is only as secure as the tools you’re using, you need to ensure your data is as secure as possible. Should you be considering adding another tool to your marketing stack, evaluate that tool’s security standards. Make sure any tool you use complies with either SOC 2 or ISO 27001. Both of those standards require companies consistently and upgrade data security protocols. For the tools you’re currently using, Check the security standard for existing tools if they don’t meet the criteria, it’s time to contact Communication Genetics.

If you are not meeting data security standard, you are not caring for your customer or protecting your business.