Customer information helps businesses make decisions and is crucial to the success of companies. In managing this data, ensuring everything is secure is crucial, as no customer wants their details to be compromised. Unfortunately, this is common, and companies pay the price when there’s a data breach. According to recent data, UK businesses lost over £2.1 billion to cybercrime in 2022 alone. Data privacy is crucial and assures customers that their personal information is in the right hands. Below are four simple and effective ways to secure your customer information.
Only collect what you need
The amount of customer data you collect can influence the extent of damage suffered when there is a breach. You can limit potential data breach damages by collecting only the personal data you need. For instance, you may take only the sensitive customer data that enables you to enhance your client experience and retention. You may perform routine data audits to determine the data you need. Also, reviewing all the data to determine whether you truly need them is best. Stop collecting the data if it’s no longer useful, reducing the potential losses when you suffer a breach.
Leave data handling to a dedicated team
Data handling is intensive, making it vital to leave it to only the experts. You may hire experts for jobs like data privacy and crisis management to focus on keeping the company’s data safe from unauthorised access. These professionals are trained and experienced in quickly and strategically mitigating a breach. You can select an individual or two if you can't afford a full team for your data handling. You can also outsource to a managed cyber security company to secure sensitive customer data and ensure organisational compliance.
Train personnel on cybersecurity practices
Unless properly trained on internet and data safety, your employees could be a weak link in your otherwise robust cybersecurity framework. Invest in training your staff on the best cybersecurity practices. You may also educate them on identifying phishing attack signs and how to stay clear of social engineering cons. Emphasize the need for personnel to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) and robust passwords. Additionally, it would help if you demonstrated why it is important to avoid public Wi-Fi networks, especially for work and complying with the business’s privacy and security policies.
Hide sensitive customer data from hackers
Hackers are always looking for opportunities to exploit your systems and information. Nothing attracts cybercriminals more than poorly stored or unencrypted data, as it’s an invitation to come for your data. For this reason, it is best to encrypt your on-site and in-transit data, rendering it useless in the wrong hands. Experts advise using 256-key encryption to protect email data and file-level encryption for your servers and systems. Remember to regularly back up your data and store them in another location to secure them against ransomware or similar cyberattack. This way, cybercriminals cannot hold you to ransom even if they get access to your customer data.
