Protecting Personal Data

Many companies have realized that the more aware customers are of the importance of the security of their personal information, the more they resist providing sensitive information.

By Ross Watts, Marketing —

We are constantly sending personal information across the Internet—on social media platforms, shopping sites, through online banking and bill payments, government forms, etc. Are we sure that our personal data can and will be protected by the recipients? Every time we create an online account and plug in our personal data, we might be left wondering if someone is hacking into our information. Many companies have realized that the more aware customers are of the importance of the security of their personal information, the more they resist providing the sensitive information.

What is Trust?

Trust—the overarching reason people feel OK when sharing private information—is extremely hard to gain, especially for companies. In order to gain this trust, companies must repeatedly prove themselves trustworthy to customers. This trust, which is more than likely the only reason people share their information, is critical to the success of a social sharing company; thus, these companies need to implement a way to ensure that their information will be kept safe, especially since there are constant attacks in an effort to retrieve this information from companies.

Privacy Compliance

A hefty privacy compliance could be the answer to these problems. Privacy compliance is a way for companies to establish protection guidelines for personal information. It is so prevalent in business due to its solution for protecting against unauthorized access to personal information.
When implementing such compliance efforts, however, companies should remember to include these things in the compliance terms: robust safety procedures and practices, a way for the company to perform its due diligences on others before sharing information, an easily accessible policy overview that can be found by anyone that visits websites that require information, and a way for the company to prove to its customers that it will be able to respond in the event a security breach. This compliance would draw more attention to the customers and potentially ease concerns for the more close-fisted holders of information.