Data breaches, hacks, and cyberattacks have been making headlines over the past few years. We’ve covered policies that businesses need to implement to keep their data safe (GDPR & CCPA, here and here). Often, small business owners think they have nothing to hide, and neither do their own customers. So why is data privacy important for a small business?
Business owners often think of data privacy in terms of protecting customer data from bad actors. They don’t want their customers’ data showing up on the dark web. That’s a great start. But as part of your overall cybersecurity strategy, it’s also important -- and in some cases legally required by GDPR and CCPA -- to give your customers control over their own data. They need to know what data is being stored and have the right to remove it. Wrapped around all of this is a very clear privacy policy. Data privacy (also called a data protection policy) means putting customers in control of their data while keeping it safe from hackers.
The potential harm to customers due to a lack of privacy measures is well known and even advertised on television. When it comes to taking active measures to protect that privacy, there are real benefits to your business as well, including the following:
Information security can be the key to the survival of your business. That’s how important it is. The way you protect that data is to implement a cybersecurity plan. It begins with an assessment and strategy development, including budgets and training. It also involves keeping software up to date, encrypting data, having a good password and other user policies, as well as ensuring your business only collects the information it needs to serve your customers.
If you have questions about your security plan or would like to get a quick assessment done, please contact us.