Driven by myriad documentaries, high-profile leaks, and the 2018 implementation of the GDPR, public awareness of online privacy matters has risen dramatically in recent years. Accordingly, every pragmatic brand accepts the need to invest in security systems and processes, though it’s still viewed as a low-priority issue due to an irrational framing of the risks that require mitigation.
In short, the problematic framing advances the potential negative consequences (brand identity damage, blackmail, legal action, etc.) as things that can result, yes, but almost-certainly won’t result. Like deadly diseases and natural disasters, they happen to other people. Those who don’t invest in online security are akin to those who don’t insure their property: absolutely confident until fortune turns against them, then regretful to an even greater extent.
It’s clear once you take everything into account that the plausible consequences of failing to protect sensitive client and/or customer data are massively more damaging than the costs of investing in security measures that aren’t ultimately needed. Taking action here is demonstrably the sensible move — what actions should you focus on taking?
In this post, we’re going to set out some tips for how you, as the head or representative of a business, can make the improvements necessary to protect the valuable data that you store and process as part of your baseline operation. Let’s get started.
Commission and act upon a comprehensive site review
The first thing you need to do is determine how safe your current setup is, and that isn’t a task you should try to handle in-house. The smart move will involve finding a company that can carry out comprehensive penetration testing and compliance testing: carry out a search for suitable companies in your industry niche, because relevant experience is always a bonus.
A full battery of penetration tests will probe your website and online systems for vulnerabilities, attempting to gain access however possible before seeing what that access can be used to achieve. In the end, you’ll receive a full report detailing all the areas of weakness and providing some clearly-defined recommendations setting out how you can strengthen them. You’ll then likely need to pass those recommendations to a developer for implementation.
Keep in mind that you may need to make other business changes, though, depending on your location and which clients and/or customers you cater to. EU-based companies now need to appoint data protection officers (DPOs) — and even if you’re not based in the EU, you should still think about having a dedicated security role for the sake of stability and optics.
Offer guidance concerning user-exploitation angles
An underlying issue in digital security is the vulnerability inherent to designing systems that are easy for users to access. You can secure every other part of your site and user-engagement process, but you’ll ultimately need to make common concessions (the biggest example being adding a convenient password-recovery process since users often forget their details) that could plausibly be exploited by fraudsters.
The frustrating truth, though, is that even a system with peerless security that extends to the user login process won’t produce an unimpeachable brand reputation, and the reason for that is phishing. There are now so many brands operating online that criminals have boundless options for impersonating brand representatives to glean valuable data, and it’s an enormous problem because a brand name can end up sullied by association with a phishing scam.
You can’t stop your clients and/or customers from clicking on phishing links, of course, and aren’t ultimately responsible for crimes that stem from people pretending to represent you — but anyone working with you losing their data is bad for your bottom line, and there’s some pressure on you to do what you can to protect them from being exploited.
Due to this, you should set out some core tips for how your clients and/or customers can stay safe online, both while dealing with you and while doing other things. If you can write fresh content on a topic, do so, as it’ll be good for SEO. If you can’t, or don’t want to, then find existing guides and link to them: you should at least explain things like how someone can perform a simple email lookup (steps to tracing an email, in other words) when you’re unsure about the legitimacy of an email that seems like it could be official.
Switch to fully-compliant cloud-based services
Meeting data storage and processing requirements can be an onerous task, particularly since regulations can change. This is why it’s increasingly hard to make a case for using localized services. Cloud services aren’t just cheaper and more powerful: they’re also more secure at a fundamental level, and backed by developers with the resources and know-how to keep them completely updated so you don’t need to give policy changes much thought.
It’s also true that using comprehensive cloud systems minimizes user touchpoints and thus reduces the risk of users causing security breaches (something we looked at in the previous section, of course, and a big reason why cloud services stand to revolutionize finance). Your work is all upfront, tasking you with choosing the most suitable service to invest in for the long haul. Once that’s out of the way, you can focus on your key daily tasks.
Note that training is a key concern here, though, because it isn’t just clients and customers who can make mistakes that result in their system access being used illegitimately. Your employees need to know exactly what they should and shouldn’t be doing. It’s often the case that the developers of business-level cloud solutions can run training sessions for you, so take advantage of that option if it’s available.
In the end, protecting sensitive client and customer data in 2021 is less about developing expertise and more about taking advantage of relevant consultation and cloud services (while passing on what you can in the form of simple recommendations).
