Online privacy is a growing concern for both consumers and businesses. As an entrepreneur, you need to have a two-pronged approach to data privacy. You need to safeguard your own data to prevent financial losses, shield your entity from lawsuits and protect your intellectual property. You must also have a data protection policy in place to safeguard your customers’ data.
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Here are some things that you need to consider while creating a data protection strategy.
Customers are going to be very upset if you intentionally share data without their consent
Your customers may have given you permission to collect the data that they have shared with you. That does not mean that they are willing to make it free to the rest of the world.
One poll by Pew Research found that 80% of customers would be very upset if a company sold their data. This is also illegal under the new GDPR, which was written to protect customer data.
Your data protection policy must make sure that you don’t willingly hand over customer data to third parties without their prior approval. You need to specify this in your data collection policies and make sure that you don’t violate your customers trust by violating this promise.
A poorly implemented privacy strategy can leave you more vulnerable to ransomware and malware
Ransomware and malware are growing concerns to organizations around the world. According to Cyberscoop, a single ransomware attack cost Merck over $310 million. Plenty of other organizations have lost millions to ransomware attacks as well. These figures are likely to rise even further in the next few years, which is one reason many companies feel sometimes it’s worth using a VPN.
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Other forms of malware can also be incredibly dangerous. Unfortunately, a poorly structured online privacy strategy can leave your brand vulnerable.
Why is developing an online privacy strategy important to prevent these costs? You will better understand when you realize how most of these attacks orchestrated. They are frequently coordinated through social engineering. Hackers do their due diligence and try to learn as much about their targets as possible. If you don’t have a strong online privacy strategy in place, it will be easier for them to find information that they can use to misrepresent themselves as customers, regulators or even internal employees from another site. Armed with this information, they can manipulate people into providing information that will help them launch their attacks.
Your online privacy strategy needs to recognize this risk and try to prevent hackers.
Adhering to data protection regulations
The consequences of violating data protection policies can be severe. If you are collecting data on customers in the European Union, you may face fines of up to $20 million or 4% of your annual global revenue, whichever is greater. You may also be subject to other fines by the Federal Trade Commission or the FCC.
The cost of fines for violating these policies can be significantly higher than the cost of compliance. It is important to take this into consideration while deciding how to develop your online data protection policy.
Facing serious damage to your brand
According to one study, around 60% of small businesses fail within six months of being the victim of a cyberattack. There are several reasons for this, but one of the biggest is the damage to their brand. Customers are not going to feel confident doing business with a company after their online data has been exposed to a security breach.
Having a strict data protection policy coupled with a strong cyber security approach is vital to the future if your online brand.
