Cyber security has been a topic that alarms people even more than nuclear war. This is because the difference between the two is one is invisible and can cause as much destruction. If any of the major central or international banks were to be hacked, you better believe that there would be billions of dollars missing and sent to offshore, untraceable accounts. This is the reason why more and more people are being cautious of even giving their emails out on the internet. Because of this, in this article we will be discussing the topic of how to handle the data of your subscribers so that they can feel good and trust you and your master data management person.
How to Safely Handle Your Subscribers Data
Before people will want to give you their information to subscribe to whatever it is you want them to subscribe to, they will want to know that their information is safe and protected. If you list the five items below somewhere on the signup page, people will be more willing to subscribe to the list. So what should YOU, or your master data management employee do once you have enough subscriber data to safely handle it?
1. Keep Multiple Backups: This should be done even for all of your personal things. You never know when you will need to access a backup file, but it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
2. Encrypt Sensitive Files and Documents: We are not saying you need to become a CIA or FBI agent, but you will need to find someone that knows how to encrypt messages or files if they are important enough for potential hackers to take interest in them. These could be documents such as bank statements to send to an accountant, or the passwords to a business’ social media accounts.
3. Use encrypted communication: Not only will the documents need to be encrypted so that the contents are unreachable, but you may also want to encrypt your communications so that there’s no trail for people to find the documents or sensitive communication in. If a deer were to erase its footprints everywhere it went, it would make it very hard for people to hunt them down.
4. Do not give the list to anyone: Once you have a large list of subscribers, their names, and contact information, you will need to protect it as if it were your baby. People have entrusted you to see and do whatever you want with their information, and the thing that will keep your morality and business alive, is protecting it. Do not give the list to anyone, and try to minimize the places that it travels to, if it needs to travel somewhere for example to send out a mass email to the list from a third party provider.
5. Have people sign NDAs: This is seen as an extreme method to some, but signing a non-disclosure agreement can do no harm, other than to protect people from it. An NDA is a great piece of contract to have and could be used in the case listed above where you needed to send a mass email. Someone will receive the subscriber data and if it is misused in any way, the person who signed the NDA will be responsible for any damages.
Conclusion
In conclusion, in this we discussed the topic of handling subscriber data and how it can influence the way in which you do business, tremendously. If that list got in the hands of the wrong people, it could cause a lot of harm, both personally and financially. It is best to take precaution by implementing a few or all of the steps.
Author Bio: Douglas Pitassi is a small business blogger and freelance writer.