12th April 2023
Companies continue to make certain mistakes or ignore what needs to be done when it comes to shielding consumer data. Going by why companies get penalised for or why action is taken against them by a watchdog must be delved into in order to avoid data breaches.
When we talk of data security procedures, regulatory bodies across the world have now put in place certain inexcusable conditions and once a custodian of data is found short, they fine entities. Going by what the likes of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have been taking note of before they make official announcements regarding the data breaches, there are certain aspects that organizations are expected to streamline. These include:
- Certain elementary security procedures: Formulation of security policies, employees being trained and informed about the processes in place, curbing unnecessary access to vital data other than working out safe ways to collect and store data.
- Shared responsibility: Organizations need to ensure that precise control mechanism is also put in place by companies they work to ensure they do not violate any data privacy rights. A data partner must be well-informed about the practices and issues unique to a business. Cloud infrastructure, web properties…who is responsible for vulnerabilities in the vast ecosystem that an entity is merely a part of? It is imperative to not only provide ample data security training for employees but also for contractors/ partners one works with.
- Specific initiatives like encrypting of data and multi-factor authentication for account access.
- Examine own networks adequately for unauthorized attempts.
- Working out a mechanism that facilitates eradication of customers’ and employees’ personal information not deemed fit or not needed to be maintained.
- There is also recommendation regarding appointing/ authorizing a high-level employee to manage the information security program.
For their part, businesses have been deploying email authentication protocols to improve the authenticity of the emails a company sends and receives, mechanisms to block employees from visiting potentially malicious web pages, cutting down the risk of malicious emails reaching employees’ inboxes etc.
By Ritesh Gupta, Ai Events
