- Protect Personal Information – Whether entering financial information while online shopping or posting private information on social media, it is important to only enter personal information within trusted websites. When entering your billing information or shipping address to purchase an item online, ensure the website has a privacy policy or cookie statement in place, which shows the organization’s intentions to protect customer data.
- Monitor Mobile and Tablet Applications – Have you ever downloaded an app and noticed a message requesting to access your location? Many mobile and tablet applications suggest sharing your geographic location, access to photos and even access to your contacts to aid in customizing your user experience. Be sure to enable and disable these options within the application permissions, which can limit the amount of information you share.
- Protect Employees Accounts – Encourage individuals to use secure, lengthy, and unique passwords for each business account within the business network. For example, it is important each employee uses a different password for their company email versus their company’s financial services account. It is just as important to set each employee up with multifactor authorization, such as Microsoft Authenticator, to keep data both safe and secure.
- Be Transparent – It is important to remain transparent when communicating how collected data is utilized. As a business it is essential to be honest about how consumer’s personal data is used within an organization. Create a clear communication message for public consumption stating what precautionary steps are taken to protect privacy.