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Customer and company data is a high-value commodity for fraudsters, with some paying up to $150 for 6GB of user credentials.
In today’s modern world, company and personal information is highly valuable which means it needs to be adequately protected. To ensure businesses that collect personal details do their part to protect the information, there are certain regulations by which they must comply. The regulations include the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, ISO 27001 and the Data Protection Act 1998.
Regulatory compliance
In order to comply with the regulations mentioned above, organisations need to ensure that the personal details they gather are stored safely (ideally off-site), are never shared with any other organisation (unless the customer has agreed) and are not used for any purpose other than the one the customer was given when they provided their details.
It’s also vitally important that all information is backed-up and so that in the event of a security breach, an organisation will still be able to access records, update the security features and notify their customers. The process of backing-up (which many organisations don’t do regularly) not only enables the company to comply with regulations, but can also prevent a business from going under in the event of a disaster…
Companies who are unable to resume processes within 10 days of a natural disaster are unlikely to survive more than a year.
The cost of non-compliance
The cost of overlooking IT security regulations can be dramatic. Firstly, you have to look at the best case scenario in which the regulatory bodies discover your insecure data process and simply administer a hefty fine to your organisation.
In a worst case scenario, your organisation could be subject to a security breach or suffer the effects of a natural disaster. The contact details you have gathered have now been lost/stolen, your lack of back-ups mean you are unable to trade effectively; the customers feel betrayed by the loss of their data and have gone to a competitor (taking their lifetime value with them); and the regulatory bodies have just given your organisation a huge fine.
As you can see, the cost of failing to comply with IT security regulations must be avoided at all costs. This means that your organisation will need to invest in compliant equipment and processes. However, this may not be as costly as you might expect. With the right funding options, the equipment can be procured which will also negate the risk of falling foul of the regulatory bodies and their fines.
To find out more about IT security, the best solutions and how you can cost-effectively protect your business, check out our latest ebook:
Get your free copy>> The scale and associated costs of IT security and compliance
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