Top 4 Ways to Keep Your Customer Data from Being "WikiLeaked"
The recent brouhaha regarding massive amounts of data stolen from U.S. government computers and posted on WikiLeaks.com brings to the forefront the issue of data theft, specifically how it affects email marketers. A new survey released by British data security company DQM Group (https://www.marketscan.co.uk/news/customer-data-the-threat-from-within-3-0004105) revealed that data loss through theft is relatively commonplace in business, particularly with departing employees. Here are the top 4 ways to keep your customer data secure.
1. Educate Your Staff That Stealing Data Is A Criminal Offense
The survey found that over 81 percent of all departing employees in sales and email marketing departments believe it is common practice to take a copy of customer contact data with them... in fact they erroneously believed that it is a right of the employee to take this information with them to their next company since it is not illegal. As the U.S. government's inability to protect their own diplomatic cables has amply demonstrated, it may be well nigh impossible to stop this data theft through technological means.
That means that the only effective means is a concerted educational effort set up to inform all employees dealing with customer information that removing this data from the premises is a criminal act which will have severe legal repercussions.
2. Liberally Seed Your Client Database With "Secret Agent" Contacts
Your contact management system and customer database should be liberally seeded with false contacts which report directly back to you. These contacts should have names entered onto the list which directly link them to the particular database. If the security of the database is compromised, the "secret agent" contacts will surely be approached, and you'll be able to determine exactly where your confidential data has ended up.
3. Protect Your Data Backups By Keeping Them Offsite
Many years ago when computer networks were fairly new, a law firm which had ill-advisedly set up its computers to all work off of a central hard drive with no backups was brought to its knees when a disgruntled employee just walked off with it... and the critical data it contained. Although network systems are far more complex these days and backups are now de rigeur, all possible precautions should be taken with precious customer data. Backup media should be kept offsite, preferably in a bank vault, where it can be immune to fire, theft, or disasters which might befall your business location.
4. Restrict Access To Entire Databases and Log Any Unusually Intense Activity
It is common knowledge among police detectives that criminals usually tip off their activities in some way, if you have the perspicacity to read the subtle signals. Your customer database should be kept under surveillance at all times, and all activity be logged. It may be desirable to restrict access to the entire database through an interface that allows the employee to review a single customer record at a time, avoiding the possibility of a wholesale data dump onto a flash drive.
The database access logs should also be regularly reviewed to determine unusually intense activity. If an employee's terminal shows that they have been quickly leafing through thousands of customer records without a really good reason, it may indicate that they have surreptitiously capturing that data either through copy and paste functions, or screenshotting.
The survey showed that up to 64 percent of all executives believe that customer data theft is on the rise. Taking these precautions today might save you a very unpleasant surprise in the future.
