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The fact that your business depends on protecting your customers’ data makes it crucial. Data is how cybercriminals make money; they hack networks, take data, sell it, or even hold it for ransom. In fact, according to studies, cybercriminals make an estimated $1.5 trillion annually, which is equivalent to Russia’s GDP. Mind blowing, we know!
Data security is more vital than ever, as in today’s digital world data is the most vital asset to any business. Sadly, cybercrime shows no signs of slowing down. You must therefore use extra caution to safeguard your consumer data. It’s too important to rely solely on the weak tools and methods you use to protect data.
Five Steps to Protect Your Private Information
Essential Data Only
If you just collect marketing-relevant data, you’ll accomplish two things: 1) You will reduce the data’s If you just collect marketing-relevant data, you’ll accomplish two things: You will reduce the data’s value. Consumer confidence will rise. Hackers are less inclined to take low-value data if its worth is diminished. If all a hacker wants is your email list, they may not bother. Names, phone numbers, geographical data, household income, etc., make data more valuable. Your company’s data is more valuable to outsiders as it grows. Relevant data collection can boost consumer confidence. Unnecessary data collection might damage consumer confidence. For instance, if a person wants to download an eBook, the form demands a name, email, and 10 other details. When he sees a form with so many fields, he may wonder why the organization needs all that sensitive data. Consumers may lose trust in your company if you acquire unnecessary data.
Restricted Data Access
Your marketing staff only needs access to some data. Your employees can use different tools. Limiting data access reduces your company’s risk. Each access point is a point of weakness. If you have 25 website analytics user accounts, that’s 25 vulnerabilities. If one of those 25 accounts has a weak password, you invite a brute-force attack. Internal data abuse is reduced when fewer employees have access to consumer data. Say you have to fire an employee, but you need to figure out what SaaS products they can access. You limited them to 10 tools but required them to remember one. They access the tool from home because it’s in the cloud. They can use the data however they choose.
You’d have known which to remove if you’d just given them the tools they needed.
Password Tools
Good password managers encrypt passwords. Without the encryption key, the password is encrypted. If someone breaks into your password management program, they can use none of your passwords. Password management tools are even more beneficial when your team utilizes one login for a tool or
By mandating the usage of a password manager, you may improve cybersecurity and lessen the likelihood of intrusions occurring in your organization.
These tools can generate and store strong passwords for all of your team’s software and hardware. Complex passwords are difficult to remember, so most people avoid using them. Tools for managing passwords encrypt and store all of your passwords, making this process simpler. That way, whenever a service requires authentication, the user can quickly get their credentials from the password manager.
The best password management software will encrypt your passwords with a strong algorithm. If a hacker gains access to your password manager, they will be unable to access any of the stored passwords since they are encrypted.
Avoid Data Silos
Data silos can lead to data vulnerabilities and hinder data analysis. Data silos contain data in separate places. This causes data to be stored in unprotected, non-approved apps. It could potentially lead to data loss. You may overlook a breach if you lose track of where data is stored.
Breaking down data silos will help you handle customer data. Data management plan details where and how data is managed. This avoids storing data in multiple tools and losing track of it. You’ll employ a data tracking approach to eliminate data silos. This plan shows what data you’re gathering and why. This will simplify Step 1’s data collection audits.
Standardize Security
Data security depends on your instruments. If a SaaS product that handles a portion of your data is not secure, your data may be at risk. When installing a marketing tool, check its security. Unless the device is secure, your data isn’t. Make sure your tools are SOC 2 or ISO 27001 compliant. Both standards compel firms to monitor and enhance their data security processes. Check the security of your tools. If they don’t use SOC 2 or ISO 27001, look elsewhere.
Takeaway
Customers give you sensitive information like their Social Security numbers and credit card numbers, and it is your job and duty to keep it safe. Implementing a CDP to safeguard your customer data has never been more necessary than it is in today’s digital world. These five steps will be a great place to start if you have never taken your data protection practices seriously, or if it has been a while since you did so.
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