As more businesses go remote, there has been a significant increase in cyber-attacks and online business safety has never been more important. While digital transformation has connected people all over the world, you must address challenges such as protecting vital and sensitive customer information. The first step toward securing your online business is to implement appropriate cybersecurity policies. These include complex passwords, role-based access, and strong data encryption.
So, keep reading if you’re looking for ways to safeguard your clients while they enjoy the experience of your online business.
Only collect vital information
If you only collect data that is relevant to your marketing efforts, you will accomplish two things:
- You will reduce your data’s external value.
- You will boost consumer trust.
The reduced external value of data improves data security because hackers are less likely to steal low-value data. If all a hacker wants from you is a list of email addresses, they might not bother.
However, if you collect names, phone numbers, location information, household income, and so on, your data becomes more valuable. The more data points your company collects, the more valuable it is likely to be to outsiders. Only gathering vital data can boost consumer confidence. When you collect data that does not appear to be necessary to the consumer, they may lose trust in your company.
Make use of data encryption
When a customer shares personal information with you, they are putting their trust in you to keep that information secure. The first step is to honour their trust by encrypting all sensitive data that could otherwise endanger a user. The process of converting plaintext to ciphertext is known as data encryption. The foundational concept of cryptography is that encrypted ciphertext and decrypted plaintext can only be accessed with specific keys.
The following are two of the most widely used encryption methods:
- Asymmetric encryption: Encryption uses a public key, but decryption requires a private key.
- Symmetric encryption uses a single key to encrypt and decrypt data.
Open a Business Bank Account
There are several advantages to opening a business account. It can help you stay legally compliant, provide financial security, and appear more professional to customers and vendors. Furthermore, having a separate account for collecting from customers and paying vendors makes it easier to log transactions and manage your business.
Business bank accounts can also help you protect your personal identity. The fact that you open a business account using your company’s EIN rather than your social security number makes you less vulnerable to cybercrime targeting your company.
This is especially important if your company conducts a large number of transactions and is thus more vulnerable to fraudulent activity. Modern business banking alternatives can help you manage your online transactions, check your revenue, and keep your data and money safe and secure.
Use SSL and firewall
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is an encryption protocol that encrypts data sent between your servers and the user’s web browser. SSL and modern TLS (Transport Layer Security) certificates authenticate the server, ensuring that the user is interacting with the correct party.
These certificates make it impossible for man-in-the-middle attackers to eavesdrop on a conversation because all they’d get is encrypted gibberish. Simply visiting your website and checking the URL bar is a quick way to see if SSL/TLS is enabled.
Backup your data
Backing up data is one of the most effective ways to protect your online business information in the event of a cyber-attack. It would be best to use a variety of backup methods, ranging from daily incremental backups to quarterly and yearly server backups. Also, make sure to check your backup data to see if it is functional and how you can restore it.
To prevent data theft and other physical damage, make it a habit to disconnect portable devices from devices. Furthermore, it would be beneficial if you used cloud storage, strong encryption methods, and multi-factor authentication to protect your data.
Summing up
Ultimately, protecting your customers’ data is key to creating a great customer experience. So, make sure you take all the needed steps to safeguard your clients from any cyberattack.
