Data Protection: Why It’s Crucial for Your Businesses

In the digital age, cybersecurity is more important than ever. A data breach can have devastating consequences for a business, and can even result in criminal charges. That’s why it’s crucial to take steps to protect your data.

Regardless of the size of your business, you can still be a victim of a data breach. Just last April 2019 was the trending data breach of the biggest social media platform, Facebook. More than 500 million users’ information was leaked to the public. Then the same database was put on the dark web just last 2021.

Another case of data breach happened last June 2021, LinkedIn – a popular job search site and professional networking site- had a data breach where the data of 700 million users were exposed to the dark web by a hacker who calls themselves “God User”.  

It’s important to protect your data from cybersecurity threats and data breaches. But it’s also crucial to protect the privacy of your customers and employees. As a business, you have a responsibility to keep your data safe and secure. Almost every day, we hear about a cybersecurity breach or some other type of data disaster. It seems like no one is safe from cybercrime anymore. Businesses, individuals, schools… everyone is at risk.

What type of data must be secured?

There are several types of data that must be secured by businesses:

• Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – This is any information that can identify an individual, such as name, Social Security number, date of birth, driver’s license number, and passport number.
  
  This information should be protected and encrypted with the highest cybersecurity standards. This type of data is valuable to hackers, not only because they can use it for fraud or identity theft, but also as a way to access more data about an individual. For example, if a hacker has your Social Security number and knows where you work, he could impersonate you at work and gain access to more data.

• Protected Health Information (PHI) – This is any information related to a person’s health or medical treatment. It can include name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, and insurance information.
  
  A cybersecurity breach involving PHI could leave you open to financial liability under the federal HIPAA law.

• Financial Data – This is any information about a person’s financial status or activities, including account numbers, credit card numbers, and loan amounts. This also includes information about a person’s business, such as bank account numbers and credit limits.
  
  This type of data is valuable to hackers because it can be used to commit fraud or identity theft. It can also be used as a way to gain access to more data about an individual, such as bank account numbers and credit card numbers.

• Customer Data – This is any data about customers or clients, including contact information and purchase histories. This is the most common type of data that is compromised in cybersecurity breaches.
  
  This data is valuable to hackers because it can be used to commit fraud, such as making fraudulent purchases or opening new accounts in the name of a customer. In some cases, hackers will steal this data and use it for ransom attacks on businesses. This has become increasingly common over the past few years.

What can businesses do to avoid data breaches?

The need for data protection is not just a law requirement, it’s also vital to any business. Without proper measures in place and with the rise of cybercrime on an international level– failure can mean losing customers or staff members who may have valuable information about your company.

So how can you protect your company from data breaches? Here are some cybersecurity measures you can implement to ensure data safety:

• Encrypt data – Many cybersecurity experts recommend encrypting all data, not just sensitive information like credit card numbers or Social Security numbers. Encryption is a way of converting readable text into code that cannot be read without a special key. It’s important to note that encrypted data must still be protected by other cybersecurity measures, such as firewalls, antivirus software, and password protection.
• Keep your cybersecurity software up to date – It’s important to keep your cybersecurity software up to date with the latest security patches. Hackers are always finding new ways to break into systems, so it’s important for businesses to have software that can keep up with these threats.
• Create strong passwords and change them often – Passwords are your first line of defense against cybersecurity breaches. It’s important to create strong passwords that are difficult to guess and to change them often. You should also never use the same password for multiple accounts.
• Educate your staff on cybersecurity best practices – Your staff is your first line of defense against cybercrime. Make sure they are aware of the dangers of phishing attacks and other common scams and teach them how to protect themselves online.

What does a data breach do to your brand?

Data protection = trust. A data breach can quickly erode the trust that customers have in your brand, which can be difficult to rebuild. In some cases, a data breach may even lead to customers taking their business elsewhere.

A data breach can have a huge negative impact on your brand. If you don’t protect the data of your customers, employees, and vendors well enough, it will be easier for cybercriminals to steal their personal information. This could lead to identity theft or financial fraud as well as damage the reputation of your business in general. In some cases, it may even lead to the loss of business altogether.

It can also cause you to lose customers and vendors which are important assets for your company to operate successfully. Customers will not want to do business with companies that have weak cybersecurity measures in place or that don’t protect their data properly because they would fear having their information stolen by hackers.

Conclusion

Your company’s data is important to you and your customers. You need a cybersecurity provider who can help safeguard this vital information with the latest in encryption, malware protection, and cyber-threat monitoring. 

Contango has been protecting companies like yours since we started over a decade ago – that’s why more than half of our business comes from repeat clients or referrals! We know how critical it is for your company to be protected 24/7 against today’s sophisticated hackers and digital thieves.

Let us show you what we do best—and get started now on safeguarding your customer data so that you can sleep well at night knowing their personal information will always be safe under our watchful eye!