6 Ways Shopkeepers Can Protect their Customers’ Data

Imagine the entrance to your house is unlocked; a thief walks in, grabs your precious belongings and just walks right out. This is how the data of you and your business is without any physical security. A data breach can happen in the blink of an eye and although data protection networks such as Cloud can help secure all the necessary information, it sometimes isn’t as effective.

As a business, it’s your responsibility to make sure all the security needs of your company are met. This not only includes the safety of your employees or the front door, but it also involves the security of the company’s data as well as the numerous amount of private information that may be given to you by your consumers. Honestly speaking, customers will only invest in your business if they consider it to securely store their data from criminal reach.

A consumer’s data contains their identity, credit card, and other personal information that, if gone under the wrong hands, can be used for criminal purposes. This will not only create distrust between you and your customers but also make your business go downhill as no one would be willing to invest due to data breach.

What is Data Breach?

A data breach is the unintentional release of private or secure information to another network or untrusted environment. It can happen through a single individual or group of people called security breakers (also known as hackers) infiltrate a source of data such as your computer and extract sensitive information for their own use.

To make sure you protect valuation data of your business and customers, we’ve gathered top six ways you can prevent data breach.

1. Regular Encryption Practices:

Having your employees practice encryption when using emails for sending sensitive information or storing it can greatly help protect consumer data. Without encryption, all the data might be vulnerable to attacks from all sources.

2. Collect Only Necessary Consumer Data:

Collecting unnecessary information from your customers that you might not even need to process their orders can help promote the wastage of energy and resources. Not only that but it can also allow hackers to find a large pool of cache to track data from.

Additionally, customers may also be reluctant about giving you all the extra information. It may cause them to have some trouble in trusting your business in the first place. So, as a practice, collect only the required information and offer consumers the option to deny giving you the extra information.

3. Staff Training and Awareness:

Train your staff members with the latest information on security and impose strict laws on storing any valuable customer data.

4. Data Back-up:

Storing valuable information from thousands of customers in your computer can just open gateways for hackers to steal it. Use data backup networks such as Cloud that can also provide your data security and allow your employees an easier hand in storing various information.

5. Stay Up-to-date on Security Trends:

Companies that provide data security are launching products that are better than the old fashioned firewall protection. By staying updated with the latest security tools, not only can you protect your business’ sensitive information but also create trust in your customers.

6. Breach Response:

In case there’s any breach of information, prepare security measures that can fight back against such threats and secure valuable data on-the-go.