Data Privacy Day is January 28th and let’s be honest, this year has been an intense year for talks around privacy and security.
Everything from consumers finding out Facebook was (and still is) tracking their phones precise location to one of the highest years on record for security breaches, fraud, to the most active year in ransomware schemes and data dumps, we find ourselves in a balancing act of how to be transparent; in some respects, while still working hard on privacy & data procedures.
Why should employers concern their company, brands, and domains to think about operational security? The simple answer is money.
Operational security (OPSEC), also known as procedural security, is a risk management process that encourages managers to view operations from the perspective of an adversary in order to protect sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. Along with customer data, financial information, and business data, a hacker can wield this data, such as many cyber ransom attacks have just in the past years.
If you’re telling yourself, “I am just a small business. They wouldn’t go after me.” you may have to change the way you think about security in this expansive age of the digital era. The loss of any information from your company website can cost you, in time, reputation, and money.
That being said, January 28th is International Data Privacy Day: A day to raise awareness for the importance of privacy and data protection online. What better time to brush up on how to make sure that you and your team are ahead of the curve by taking simple, yet important steps.
Engage your clients and consumers with the idea of transparency:
Most consumer-trust level are low overall, but vary from industry. Being transparent on what data is necessary for your company to help a client thrive, and what isn’t, is a great way to build consumer trust. Customers also like to know what you are doing, and not doing, with the data you collect.
Company Awareness:
Companies that develop and execute a clear, cohesive strategy with employees about how they will deal with private internal processes, is important, not just for the client, but also for prospective ones. The handling of a clients data and the efficacy of said data shows that you are putting them first, by valuing and storing their data through a secure means. Raising awareness about the security protocols is one side of the coin. Always remember: The more likely you are to enforce the protocols, the less likely you will be at risk.
Identify possible threats:
For any information that you deem to be sensitive, identify what possible threats could be possible. That means treating outside threats, such as exploits, the same as insider threats. (We know you trust your team. You’ve hired them, but remind yourself: cost, reputation, time. If a disgruntled employee shares company data or isn’t being mindful and implementing correct practices set in place by traveling to their favorite free-wifi coffee place in order to get some remote work done, (You can see how this can become a problem.) an insider could be lax with their passwords, storing them over unsecured network locations, guaranteeing attackers to have a go at them.
Seek appraisals on the risks associated with each vulnerability or exploit:
The likelihood of the attack happening, the possible damage that could be expected, and the amount of work and time one would need to recover, are all aspects to be evaluated.
Educate & Update:
Educate your clients as well as your team on possible new threats regarding phishing, ransomware, web exploits, and app updates.
While cybersecurity is a vast ocean with many elements to concern yourself with, here at Asenka, we are laser focused on WordPress website security. We realize this is only a small part of your overarching plan, it’s still an important area to have locked down. We have two levels of services to help you secure your WordPress sites, one which focuses on locking the site down from common attacks (called “hardening”) and the other with focuses on ongoing monitoring and security. We can walk you through what both of those look like and see what best fits your needs, if interested. Please contact us with any questions or concerns you might have.
