How to secure your client’s confidential data in 5 simple ways
confidential data
Losing your client’s sensitive data such as credit/debit card details, login credentials, SSN, bank account details, medical records, or financial reports is as scary as it sounds. It can cause disastrous consequences for your business from a legal and PR point of view. It is crucial for companies to follow best practices to ensure no data breach occurs and their client’s sensitive information is kept safe throughout the project. After all, while partnering with an agency, clients transfer their confidential information on the foundation of trust, which shouldn’t be broken, or both parties will eventually have to suffer. Moreover, with outsourcing agencies being clouded by myths, including ‘lack of data confidentiality’, it becomes even more important for outsourcing agencies to prove it wrong by keeping their client’s data secure.
To help you do that, here we’ve listed the best ways to help you safeguard your client’s confidential data against security breaches.
1. Follow industry regulations (SOC-2, HIPAA, PIPEDA)
These three regulations are meant to be followed by various industries to secure a client’s data depending on the kind of customers they deal with. SOC-2 being the more foundational ordinance, is used by all the SaaS companies and technology service providers. Under this regulation, these industries must store customer data in a secure file-sharing platform to ensure effective safeguarding of the client’s privacy.
As for HIPAA and PIPEDA, professionals working in the field of healthcare, accounting, legal, or insurance industries need to comply with these regulations. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is mandated to safeguard patients’ information in the United States of America. According to this regulation, access to data facilities and devices is restricted.
On the other hand, PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) regulates the collection, usage, and disclosure of data by the private sector in for-profit or commercial activities in Canada. According to it, the protection of the client’s data is designated depending on how sensitive the information is.
Both acts state that organizations must guarantee protection and establish effective security measures to protect client confidentiality.
2. Conduct routine security training for staff
Ensuring data security begins with training the staff about it. If we talk about call centers, then all of the client’s confidential details and their customer information are transferred to them; in that case, it becomes immensely important to educate your support staff on how to safeguard such sensitive information. Companies should host routine security training for staff to teach them about cybercrimes such as phishing, pharming, and breaching clients’ data head-on and how these attacks work. Companies should train their staff on how to avoid falling into such traps and how their carelessness can prove detrimental to their company or, worse, sabotage their client’s trust in them.
Once you train your employees to safeguard your client’s information, make sure they are following the proper security guidelines such as:
- Not carrying phone on the production floor.
- Not leaving their desktop/laptop unattended and unlocked.
- Not sharing their system passwords with anyone, and so on.
Enable SSO or two-step verification for login to ensure adequate security measures.
3 .Use a secure file-sharing platform with controlled access.
Don’t wait to act until everything’s down in the dumps already. When it comes to the file-sharing platform, companies must rely on encrypted software. By using a secure platform with controlled access, you can mitigate the risk of an information breach by securely exchanging confidential files and messages with clients and colleagues. This should be the first step for companies that regularly share a lot of information. A secure platform includes encryption, two-factor authentication, and storage in secured data centers. The combination of these features will help you ensure effective data security while sharing information.
4. Use up-to-date security technology
Just as vaccines work against viruses, these security technologies work all the same against data breaches. Leveraging cutting-edge security technology will be a defense mechanism for companies against breaches of client information. Anti-malware and anti-virus programs are essential for protecting your company and client confidentiality. Businesses must keep their programs updated, or to be safer, always scheduled for updates.
5. Stay alert for new security threats..
Yes, you have updated your programs, leveraged security technology, and trained your staff on client confidentiality, but let’s not get too overconfident. Cybercriminals are working tirelessly to perfect their methods, so it’s better to stay alert and keep everyone in the loop. As the business world is becoming more dependent on the digital structure, it’s becoming even more important to familiarize yourself and your company with modern security threats. It helps you stay aware of the infamous cybersecurity issues and prevent or prepare a response plan for attacks. Staying vigilant is the best way to set your defense of client information in motion.
Closing lines
In the world of digital dominance, protecting your confidential information has become trickier due to the increasing cyberattacks. This is why relying on an ISO/IEC 27001-certified outsourcing agency like Bolsterbiz is a must for your business to ensure that your sensitive data is in the right hands. We utilize innovative security technology to ensure the safety of your information. Moreover, we make our employees sign NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement) to ensure you can sleep peacefully at night knowing that your confidential information is safe with us.
Table of Content
Recent Posts
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
With there being 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world, mobile becomes one of the key elements of an omnichannel strategy. With the addition of hundreds of millions of users in a month, it makes sense for a customer to seek support on their mobile devices too.
According to a study conducted by SuperOffice, 90% of customers stated their customer service experience on mobile was negative and 52% of customers said that a poor mobile experience makes them less inclined to the brand. To improve on this factor, make it easier for your customer to navigate and get support. The top complaint of customers for customer service on a mobile site was “difficult to navigate”.
With there being 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world, mobile becomes one of the key elements of an omnichannel strategy. With the addition of hundreds of millions of users in a month, it makes sense for a customer to seek support on their mobile devices too.
According to a study conducted by SuperOffice, 90% of customers stated their customer service experience on mobile was negative and 52% of customers said that a poor mobile experience makes them less inclined to the brand. To improve on this factor, make it easier for your customer to navigate and get support. The top complaint of customers for customer service on a mobile site was “difficult to navigate”.