There seems to be a wall between consumers and businesses in 2023. With high-profile data breaches such as the Cambridge Analytica incident, the Yahoo cyber attack, and the LinkedIn data leak being publicised around the world, consumers have lost their trust with businesses.
In 2023, many are opting to take personal information off the internet completely, as well as opting out of data brokers who collect and sell their data. But for those who haven’t done this, they are relying solely on companies to protect their data and keep it out of the wrong hands. With emerging technologies and evolving threats, this is becoming more difficult.
Over the last few years, social engineering, ransomware, and APTs have been on the rise, with each of these threats becoming more challenging to defend against. New privacy-threatening technologies like AI and the latest spyware viruses are making the situation worse, too. Whether it’s through DDoS attacks, brute-force attacks, bait-and-switch, or AI cookie theft, consumers and companies have never been more at risk.
As an organisation responsible for consumer data, you need to put all the necessary strategies in place to future-proof your data security measures, ensuring that you not only remain compliant, but break down that wall between you and your customers that has been formed through years of growing distrust.
Do A Risk Assessment Now
The first thing you need to do is perform a risk assessment. Whether you’re a young company or well established, you likely have cyber security strategies in place that need a risk assessment to identify what the vulnerabilities are, and what threats could take advantage of them.
Determine What Data You Really Need
After performing this, you need to take a look at the data you are collecting. According to a recent study, as much as 52% of all information collected and stored by organisations is “dark data” – data that businesses collect, process, and store, but remain unused and untapped.
A good portion of the time, data that is procured through security breaches didn’t need to be there in the first place, so it is your responsibility to collect appropriate, relevant data, and subsequently minimise the information that is being put at risk.
If You Don’t Have A Data Security Team, Get One
You also need a strong data security team. With technology continuously evolving, the threats that cyberattackers pose is only getting bigger, and you cannot rely on a team — whose job isn’t to secure and protect data – to defend against them. A data security team will give you a port of call, and ensure that your security strategies are continually in effect.
Instil A Safety And Security Culture
Culture is one of the most crucial components in future-proofing your organisation. If you instil the importance of cybersecurity with your team – as well as why it is important to protect customers – then a layer of cohesion and awareness will be added to your security measures.
Train And Retrain
Speaking of cohesion, it is important that your team is trained on data security compliance, and re-trained whenever new techniques must be put in action. Regular security awareness training will ensure that employees remain conscious of what constitutes “suspicious activity”, and can report it quickly to the data security team.
Audit Your Data Security Measures
A trained and efficient team will also help you pass your data privacy audit. An audit will often be carried out to ensure that you are following data privacy compliance – whether that’s GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, FISMA, or others – and for this reason, you will need to keep your team up to date and keep a detailed record of your data security measures.
When it comes to future-proofing your data security, carrying out your own internal audits will also help you recognise any weak points and keep you from being targeted due to a loop-hole you should have known about.
Create An Incident Plan Should The Worse Happen
Even if you have future-proofed your company against an attack, that doesn’t mean an attack won’t happen. In the event that you suffer a data breach, you need to have finalised an incident plan to respond quickly and efficiently. Develop a communication plan for members of the company, stakeholders, and – most importantly – the customers who would be at risk.
Be Transparent With Your Consumers
Speaking of consumers, this is the most important factor in future-proofing data privacy strategies. One of the reasons so many businesses fail after a cyber breach is because of their damaged reputation. The vast majority of consumers who are aware of a cyber breach will not do business with the affected company again.
If you have been transparent with customers about your data security, however, and you can show that you put cybersecurity front-and-centre, then you have made the first steps in protecting your reputation and maintaining the trust. Again, with these strategies in place, you are significantly reducing the chances of a successful breach, but it’s always a good idea to prepare for all eventualities.
Keep On Top Of Compliance Changes
As new technologies emerge and threats to data security evolve, so too will the compliance measures that you are following. If you keep a finger on the pulse of your compliance policy, then you can make sure that you are changing your practices in line with new compliance measures, which will not only assist you in an audit, but further secure the measures you have already implemented.
Keep On Top Of New Technologies
Lastly, you should remain aware of technology itself. What methods are cyber attackers using? What new technologies could achieve a successful data breach? If you keep on top of these things, you are already putting yourself – and subsequently your reputation – above so many other companies.
In a recent study, it was discovered that 50% of SMBs still don’t have a data security plan in place. Not only will you have a data security plan, but you will be aware of what can harm it and apply the necessary measures to stop that from happening.
