omer Data Privacy: 10 Non-Negotiable Best practices to Protect Your Business

A hacker gained access to Twitter’s internal tools in July 2020 to steal 130 high profile Twitter accounts – like Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Barack Obama – and then execute a “double your Bitcoin” scam.

It was a scam that thousands of Twitter users fell for. In just a few hours, the hacker had stolen over $118,000 in bitcoin. Since then, thousands of organizations were breached. These included large multinational companies like Apple and Facebook, universities, hotels and hospitals, government departments and even churches and fundraising sites.

Every organization that stores, processes, or collects customer data is at risk. This is why it’s important to take immediate action to secure your data. This article will explain how.

Table of Contents

Data privacy is vital

Data privacy controls and measures have three main purposes: To protect information’s confidentiality, integrity, build trust with customers and comply with data privacy laws. A breach can result in serious consequences for individuals and companies if these controls are not implemented.

Individuals’ impact

Identity theft and fraud can be committed against individuals whose data has been stolen. Hackers may steal the victim’s data and use it to open credit lines, apply for loans, or impersonate them.

A victim may be humiliated, discriminated, financially lost, or suffer psychological trauma if they lose sensitive or private data. In severe cases, the victim’s health, life, and family might be at risk.

Organizational Impact

Organizations can also be affected by data breaches, particularly financially. According to IBM in 2022, the average breach cost was $4.35million. Breach costs include ransom demands by attackers and “cleanup costs” associated with breach remediation. Additional costs may include lawsuits or regulatory fines.

A breach could also affect the company’s reputation and customer perception as well as stock prices. It could lose the trust of its customers and fail to fulfill its contractual obligations. This could impact its business relationships as well as profits.

Data privacy standards & regulations

Many governments have adopted data privacy laws in response to a series of data breaches over the past few years. These laws govern how organizations collect, process, store, and dispose of consumer data. These laws are intended to protect consumers’ privacy and prevent data breaches from causing harm.

GDPR

Any company that collects personal information from EU citizens is subject to the GDPR. This law governs how data is collected, used, transmitted, and secured by companies. Failure to follow the law could result in a fine of $20+ million, or 4% of global turnover.

Privacy laws in the United States

The USA doesn’t have one federal privacy law. Instead, many sector- or state-specific laws regulate how companies collect, process or use consumer data. The Privacy of Protected Health Information (PHI) is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), in a similar manner, regulates how entities can collect personal information from California residents.



Source

Specific industry privacy standards

Some industry associations have established privacy standards that can be applied to certain industries. The PCI-DSS is one example. It applies to all merchants that collect credit card information from consumers worldwide. Despite the fact that the standard isn’t enforced by any government the merchants must follow it due to their contractual relationship to the credit card company. It is important that businesses take all necessary precautions to safeguard cardholder data and prevent card fraud.

In recent years, privacy has been a major concern in the advertising and tech industries. Google has reduced visibility in search terms report, and Facebook mandates Aggregated Events Measurement.

Free Guide: 10 Privacy Friendly Facebook Targeting Strategies

Data privacy and security are the biggest threats

Data privacy controls how data is used and shared. While data security protects data from outside attackers and malicious insiders, These ideas have many similarities, despite their differences. There are numerous threats that could affect data security and privacy.

Phishing scams

An attacker may send emails that look like they are from a trusted source in a phishing scheme. An email could contain malicious links or attachments. Clicking on the link will take users to a website, where they’ll be required to enter their personal information.

This information is then stolen by the attacker, which results in a breach. The attacker can compromise the device if the user opens the attachment. They could also gain access other resources and cause extensive damage to the enterprise network. It is important that you choose the best anti-phishing solution to protect your business.



Source

Ransomware and Malware

Ransomware and malware pose a serious threat to privacy and data security. Ransomware attacks are when malware infects corporate computers with ransomware that encrypts and locks out the user. The criminal demands a large ransom in return for the decryption keys. Ransomware can spread across the network and steal huge amounts of data.

Insider threats

Data privacy is also at risk from insider threats. The number of insider incidents has increased 44% since 2020 and the incident cost has risen to $15.38million.

Malicious or compromised insiders, such as employees and third-party vendors, can pose threats. Some threats are from malicious or compromised insiders, such as employees or third-party vendors. Others are caused by careless or non-malicious insiders who have poor cybersecurity hygiene. One example is that a user might share their password with another person, while another user could store sensitive data in a shared folder. These mistakes could lead to accidental data exposures.

Software vulnerabilities

Cybercriminals can exploit security vulnerabilities in applications and devices. These vulnerabilities are used by many attackers to hack organizations and compromise or exfiltrate customer data.

Here are 10 ways to help protect your customer’s data privacy

Here are ten methods to protect your customer data against hackers and cyberattackers.

1. Find out what data you’re collecting

Data protection is only possible if you understand what data it is and where it is kept. Know what data you collect from customers and how it is used. Also, know who is using it. It is important to know the extent of data security, its location, and when it can be shared.

To identify all data in the enterprise, conduct a data audit. Next, categorize every data type according to its sensitivity, use case, or accessibility. To determine what data must be protected and what compliance laws are applicable to your company, create a data inventory.



Source

These are some data classifications to be aware of:

2. Only collect the essential information

A limited amount of personal information can help minimize the risk of data breaches. Only collect the sensitive or private data that you require for your business to achieve certain goals. For example, to enhance customer experiences and retention.

Periodic data audits are a good way to determine which data is important. Next, assess whether or not you really need the data. If you don’t need it, stop collecting it. You can reduce the risk of losing your data if there is a breach.

3. Make and publish a transparent policy on data usage and privacy

Establish and communicate a clear data privacy policy. It should clearly state who can access the data, and how. The policy should clearly define how data should be used.

You should also publish a privacy statement for customers on your website. This policy should outline how your company stores, uses, protects and processes customer data. Customers should be informed if you make any changes to the policy.

4. Encrypt all sensitive user data

Hackers have a reason for attacking organizations if they have access to unencrypted or poorly stored data. All data should be encrypted, at rest and in transit. Secure data via email with 256-keybit encryption. File-level encryption protects data on servers and systems.

Also, make regular backups of your data and keep them safe. You can still access your data even if you’re the victim of ransomware or a cyberattack. You won’t even have to pay ransom.



Source

5. Beware of phishing scams

Implement email spam filters across the company to reduce the chance of losing data due to phishing attacks. To protect your data and prevent new threats, make sure you update all devices with anti-malware and antivirus software.

The impact of phishing attacks can be minimized by individuals. Encourage employees to report email scams to the right person or department.

6. All software should be updated

Hackers exploit security flaws in software and devices to attack companies and compromise customer data. After detecting vulnerabilities in software products, vendors release patches. These patches can be applied to your software to keep it up-to-date and to protect customer data.

7. Implement multi-factor authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA), provides stronger protection for enterprise accounts, and data. MFA does not require a password, but an additional authentication factor. Even if an authorized user’s password is stolen, hackers will still require the second factor in order to log into an enterprise account. This factor is usually kept under the control of the authorized user, making it difficult for hackers to steal or compromise it.



Source

8. Inform people about cybersecurity practices

Cybersecurity education is crucial to eradicate people-related vulnerabilities in cybersecurity. Your employees should be educated about cybersecurity best practices. Teach your employees how to recognize signs of phishing attacks and how to avoid scams .

Explain to them the importance of strong passwords, and MFA. Show them why public Wi-Fi networks should not be used for work, and remind them to follow the company’s privacy and security policies.

9. Restriction on data access

Internal threats to data can be minimized by limiting access to data only on a need to-know basis. Implement the principle of least privilege (PoLP) whenever possible so that users only have access to the data they require for their job. Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools allow you to manage access levels and permissions.

10. Establish a robust data protection infrastructure

You need to have a complete security infrastructure that includes all the tools necessary to protect customer data and prevent breaches.

These tools should be budgeted. These tools will protect your company from data breaches and will quickly recover your investment.

Keep your business, customers & data safe

In recent years, data breaches have become more frequent and common. These data breaches have become more frequent in recent years, with hackers targeting high-profile companies and affecting millions.

All is not lost, however. You have some control over what data you collect and how it is used. You have the ability to secure your data and prevent it from being misused. You can lower the risk to your customers and company by using the best practices and ideas shared here.

  1. Find out what data you’re collecting
  2. Only collect the essential information
  3. Make and publish a transparent policy on data usage and privacy
  4. Encrypt all sensitive user data
  5. Beware of phishing scams
  6. All software should be updated
  7. Implement multi-factor authentication
  8. Inform people about cybersecurity practices
  9. Restriction on data access
  10. Establish a robust data protection infrastructure

About the author

Irina Maltseva, a Growth Lead at Aura, is also a founder at ONSAAS. She has been working with SaaS companies for seven years to increase their revenue through inbound marketing. Irina worked for Hunter, a company that helped 3M marketers build meaningful business relationships. Irina now works at Aura to make the internet safer for all. Follow her on LinkedIn to get in touch.

The post Customer Privacy: 10 Non-Negotiable Best Tips to Protect Your Business originally appeared on WordStream.

Tagged

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *