Safeguarding Information

Most likely, your company has to some extent records of customer’s personal information ranging from their addresses to credit card numbers.  This is a large responsibility and poses potential danger.  The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires "financial institutions" to keep customer information secure and confidential.  

The GLB Act initiated the Federal Trade Commission to create certain Safeguard Rules which require financial institutions to have security measures set up to help prevent the identity theft of any personal information recorded.

A guide that the FTC provides details how to protect any sensitive information.  This guide is a brochure called "Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business."  It is important that you read this guide to insure that you provide your customers with the best security measures and give them a peace of mind about doing business with you and allowing you to handle their important information.

In essence, the guide outlines five principles that you as a business owner should implement in order to safeguard your customer’s information.  These five principles are detailed below:

1. Take stock – always keep track of what personal information you have in your paper files and on your computers.  Don’t become so unorganized that you cannot quickly locate someone’s information at a moment’s notice.  Unorganization will lead to becoming vulnerable when someone attacks because you may not be aware of it if you don’t know what files were taken or where they are.
2. Scale down – keep only what you need for your business.  If you have old data lying around, then throw it out.  Unneeded documents and clutter adds to the confusion if someone steals information.
3. Lock it – there are software and tools out there that you can use to safeguard your files.  Don’t hesitate to invest in some of these simple tools.  In the end, they may save you a lot of time, effort, and money.  Put your customers first and protect the information they’ve entrusted you with.
4. Pitch it – when clearing out old information or cleaning up the clutter, don’t just automatically throw it in the trash.  If the documents contain credit card numbers or someone’s SSN, they need to be shredded or burned to prevent someone from getting a hold of them.
5. Plan ahead – create a plan to respond to security incidents.  Don’t let an identity theft catch you off guard.  Do your research now and know your rights as a business and the process that your clients will need to go through if their information is stolen.