Nibletz Staff
Your customers’ data is of paramount importance to your business. Your clients have trusted you with their details and information, and as such, you should be able to deliver by ensuring this is protected and will not be lost or stolen. With cyber attacks becoming a more prominent reality in our world, it is increasingly difficult to protect data from being hacked into. However, there are ways in which you can ensure this is not lost and is as safe as possible.
If you work with clients all over the world and you would like to ensure their data is safe with your business, these are the measures you should consider.
Invest in compliance
If your business operates globally and you deal with customers on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, this means your clients’ data is not only at risk from it being hacked, it is also at risk from it not being compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). With the regulation now being in force, it is essential that businesses pay attention to the ways in which data storage could have an impact on their business. If you handle EU data, this means your company needs to have GDPR compliance. Learn more about GDPR Compliance for US Businesses.
Backup your data
The second way in which you can protect your clients’ data if you are a US business is by backing this up and doing it early. Depending on the amount of data that your system holds, you will need to back this up more or less regularly. Windows has a backup utility built into it so that you can do this in a basic way as often as it is required. If you would like to run a more comprehensive backup, there are numerous third party programs that can help you do so. Whichever application you use, make sure you store a copy offsite in case there is a fire or other natural disaster affecting the area where you work.
Password protect documents
The third and final measure we recommend you make use of in order for you to safeguard your customers’ information is by password-protecting documents. From Microsoft Office to Adobe Acrobat, there are many applications out there which allow you to set up a password for the documents you handle on a daily basis. If you would like to password-protect a document using Microsoft Word 2003, you must go to Tools, Options and then click on the Security tab. This way, you will be able to insert a password on a particular document, if desired, and change this as many times as you wish. As Microsoft Office’s password protection systems are relatively easy to crack, there are programs you can make use of in order to ensure you can recover these passwords. These include Elcomsoft’s Advanced Office Password Recovery (AOPR).
