Consumers often face a choice in supporting a small business or a larger corporation for products and services. While small businesses know they are evaluated on price, customer experience, reliability, and quality, they may not realize that the tech-savvy public is also evaluating how businesses secure their data. This is especially true today where consumer data hacks are being reported daily in the news.
Sloppy handling of valuable personal and identifying information can be devastating to a small business. It can lead to customers having their sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information and credit card information, stolen, open the company up to liability, and damage customer trust within the community that a small business works hard to build.
So, how can your small business take proactive steps to protect secure customer data? Here are a few ideas.
1. Create a plan for how documents will be handled. Develop a plan that ensures the security of the documents in each step of your business operations. If you have physical documents that you use as records keep files locked and secured and use office shredders or a shredding company to properly dispose of company and customer documents.
2. Put electronic data and electronics on lockdown. Most records retention are kept electronically. This is why data protection is key as you need to protect customer data from cyberattacks, malware, and hackers. Work with reputable cybersecurity companies to put up firewalls around your data and keep it safe. Require employees to use two-factor authentication and strong passwords when they sign on to your system to limit access. Ensure your business's compliance with PCI DSS standards — comprehensive requirements intended to enhance payment account data security.
3. Choose reliable vendors. Even if your business works hard internally to prevent security risks, your business's data management may be serviced by third-party vendors. Ensure that the companies you choose to work with adhere to stringent privacy practices and security standards. If they fall short, request them to upgrade their security infrastructure, or head back to the vendor market to find a better option.
4. Make sure your staff gets the memo. Hold a staff meeting to train employees and review the procedures you are using to protect your systems. This includes what you are doing with software updates and Wi-Fi to protect data from vulnerabilities, including any customer data privacy measures and any instructions on how you will handle sensitive information. Consider having follow-up meetings to evaluate the system and improve the plan as time goes on.
5. Think "contingency plan." Come up with a general plan of how your business will handle any breach which may arise. Who will you contact, how long will it take to have compromised information removed, how will you inform customers about a potential breach and make their data safe.
A company's greatest assets is its customers. Small businesses owe it to their customers to take definitive steps to protect their personal data and use strong security measures to protect consumers from identity theft.
Related Resources
- Online Safety Tips To Protect Your Personal Information (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law)
- Protecting Customer Data (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law)
- Business Data Breach & Customer ID Theft (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law)
