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If the current news cycle has shown us anything, it’s that it’s never been more important for businesses to be serious about security. It can feel like the next data breach is just around the corner.
For businesses to remain viable, they require customers to trust them with sensitive information, and the consequences of breaching this trust can cause irreversible reputational and financial damage.
So how should businesses act as responsible stewards of their customers’ data and demonstrate their practices?
There are a few easy steps any business can take to ensure they are protecting their customers’ data. Here are five of them.
1. Know the rules and ensure your business meets the necessary standards
Being compliant and demonstrating that your business is operating responsibly starts with being aware of compliance requirements and legislation.
Businesses must comply with a range of minimum security standards, including ISO 27001, and many small businesses are also required to comply with the Australian Privacy Act. The more services you offer, the more standards you may need to comply with.
This can be a complex task, but a comprehensive and robust compliance program is the easiest way businesses can ensure they are covered.
2. Ensure and demonstrate compliance to customers
Regular security monitoring is one of the most important steps a business can take to make sure it is compliant and ensure the safety of customer data.
Automated compliance management software allows you to scale your compliance program and easily alerts you of security gaps and ensure that your servers and networks are protected. Additionally, an automated platform can save you from spending time monitoring your systems manually.
Demonstrating to customers that you are engaged in continuous monitoring to protect their data and remain compliant is equally important for attracting and retaining customers, especially for young businesses.
Vanta’s Trust Reports provides a transparent, real time status of your organisation’s security and shows your customers the measures you have in place to protect their information. This helps streamline the sales process and shows customers that you’re serious about security.
3. Implement a reliable risk management system
Risk assessments should be a part of your ongoing compliance strategy to reduce future risks and manage existing ones. To effectively manage and prevent risks to customer data, you need a rigorous risk assessment process in place.
But manual risk management can be a complex task, especially for businesses new to the risk management process and for smaller businesses with a number of priorities to juggle.
Vanta’s automated Risk Management solution streamlines the risk management process and is based on the ISO 27005 risk assessment methodology that helps guide businesses through the stages of risk management with ease. The Risk Management solution helps you meet the compliance requirements that will keep their customers’ data secure.
4. Make sure all software and systems are kept up to date
Online attackers are constantly evolving their methods and becoming more sophisticated. The older the software, the more vulnerable it is to attacks. It is vital that businesses update their systems and software regularly to operate safely and responsibly.
Always ensure that your browser, operating system and ransomware are up to date to keep your customers’ data safe.There are also a number of easy strategies you can put in place to keep your systems safe including password managers and multifactor identification (MFA).
5. Don’t store customer data that is no longer needed
Another simple way to minimise the risk of data breaches is to simply store less of it.
The more customer data stored by businesses, the more valuable they are to attackers. Only collect data from your customers that you need and delete any that are no longer required.
Demonstrating compliance allows a business to strengthen relationships with its customers and will help protect you from the consequences of customer data breaches. Sophisticated monitoring and risk management strategies are the most important factors a business should have in its compliance management toolkit.
Thousands of fast-growing companies trust Vanta to help build, scale, manage and demonstrate their security and compliance programs and get ready for audits in weeks, not months. By offering the most in-demand frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and more, Vanta helps companies obtain the reports needed to prove compliance and accelerate growth, all while mitigating risks.
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