Now and then, cases of cybercrime have made their way into the news headlines. Notable companies have fallen victim to these acts losing valuable pieces of data to the ruthless cyber terrorists. Therefore, every business’s duty, whether small or large, ensures that the consumers’ info is safeguarded. Not long ago, a report by the National Security Alliance (NCSA) showed that more Americans are concerned about losing their data privacy than their primary source of income. As a business entity, it’s, therefore, your mandate to ensure their safety. Here, we will continue to highlight the various proven ways to successfully secure your customer’s data from online fraud.
Stay Posted on Encryption Practices
The first step is ensuring that your customer’s data is encrypted. When it comes to encryption, you must know that it’s a technology that keeps evolving. New trends emerge intending to increase the security of customer’s data. Whenever you fail to update the encryptions regularly, you are vulnerable to attacks. It’s advisable to set a regular schedule to see if your current encryption technology is up-to-date.
When it comes to encryption, a bit is confusing when dealing with PostgreSQL based on the features. Postgres rely on OpenSSL to provide transport security. According to the article How to Secure PostgreSQL: Security Hardening Best Practices & Tips, to encrypt connections in Postgres, you will need a server key and certificate. This is protected with a passphrase that can safely be entered at server startup either manually or using a script that can be utilized to retrieve and passphrase on behalf of the server.
Limit the Access to Customer Info
How many people in the company have access to your customer’s data? This is one question that you should ask yourself more often because the higher the number, the higher opportunities for hackers to strike. Not everyone in the company needs to see the customer’s data. You can, therefore, limit access to the accessibility to only a few notable departments. Doing so makes it easy to address the attack as you are sure of the channel to follow.
Collect Only What You Need
When it comes to collecting customer data, you don’t need to know everything about them. After all, you may only need the data for a one-time transaction. This means that you don’t have to waste your energy gathering unnecessary data. Whenever you collect every info about the customer, you establish a massive loophole for cyber hackers to target. Also, asking for unnecessary pieces of info makes some customers nervous about why you need all these pieces of info in the first place. Additionally, you can offer your customers the option of whether they wish to share personal info with you or not.
Wipe Out the Customer’s Data After the Transaction
The collection of customer data is essential for the smooth running of the business. It helps with smooth operations. The big question you ought to ask yourself is, what should be done when business is done? Should you keep the data? The answer is no. You should consider wiping out every bit of customer’s data after your business with them. By so doing, you help to eliminate them in case of a cyber-attack. One good thing to note about destroying customer’s data is that it helps boost your customers’ confidence in your privacy measures and transparency.
Install and Update Your Security Software
One surefire way to protect your system against cyber-attacks is investing in antivirus software. It’s risky to access the internet without one in place. This software helps safeguard your system from many attacks that you may not even know. There are many antivirus options you can rely on for your online security.
The software comes at a price, of course. At times, small businesses, incredibly, get intimidated by the price tag, which shouldn’t be the case. The kind of protection they provide is more than the initial cost. When dealing with antivirus software, it’s not all about installing and letting it do the magic. You have got to ensure that the software is regularly updated. The antivirus keeps updating tactics based on cyber-attack trends. Therefore, whenever you fail to keep it updated, you create a space for hackers to hit you. The scheduled updates and regular rebooting may sound annoying, but they are worth every step.
Stick to Strong Passwords
How strong is your password? When attacking, most hackers try to access your system through trial and error. If you are the kind of person who uses company names and the year on the passwords, you might make it easy for these ruthless people to gain access. Therefore, the surest way to make it hard for them to strike you is making your passwords hard for them to guess.
The creation of strong passwords may sound obvious, but it’s important as it’s the key to the kingdom. You can use a password generator, in this case, to ensure that they are top secure. Another way to create a strong password is to ensure that you include other characters in it rather than letters and numbers alone. In some cases, these hard passwords are hard to remember, and this is what sees most people write and stick them on their computers. That will be a waste of all your efforts. Why create a strong password and then leave it there in the open. If it’s a must, you jot it down, ensure that you secure it at all times.
Avoid Outside Access to Private Servers/Networks
When it comes to ensuring your customer’s data’s safety, you want to ensure that there are as many obstacles as possible between the info and hackers. One of the best ways to block these obstacles is by moving the info to a secured, private network or server. By having a private network, you have control over who can access the data, reducing outside interference chances. Besides, your tech team can keep track of the activities, hence detecting a problem before it becomes a big problem.
Test for Vulnerabilities Regularly
Last in the list is testing for vulnerability within your system. After you are done with all the security measures, it’s essential to call in an ethical hacker to ensure that everything is on point. Ethical hackers help establish the system’s weak points and notify them. By involving them, you help ensure that your system is secure and hence your customer’s data.
Your customer’s data is essential when it comes to smooth operations. However, it’s often targeted by cyber terrorists. As the business owner, you have to ensure that every bit of info is secure. Listed in this article are some of the proven ways to improve your customers’ data security. Read through the piece to find out which of the strategies you are yet to implement.