Your Salesforce system very likely contains a large amount of data. This includes everything from general network information, team member data, vendor data, customer data, and more. These repositories can range from the mundane, nuts-and-bolts aspects of operating a business to more sensitive information.
But even if every piece of data might not seem essential, we stress the importance of protecting the entirety of the data within your Salesforce environment.
The reasons for this are as varied as they are important. The main idea is that no information is safe from becoming compromised, damaged, or—even worse—stolen.
The repercussions of a data loss event can be catastrophic for a company. Loss of service impacts their ability to provide services to customers. Lost or corrupted data will need to be replaced, which occupies team members and takes them away from moving the company forward.
The negative effects of a failure in data security extend beyond the initial business interests of the company and along to the customers themselves.
Companies have a responsibility to protect their Salesforce data—for both themselves as well as those who choose to do business with them. This is an issue for companies of all sizes. Data loss doesn’t discriminate between a small startup and a multinational corporation.
Salesforce data security should be a constant consideration to best protect the data of your customers, as well as the data essential to completing your duties.
Here are some considerations to keep in mind relating to Salesforce data security and your customers:
Protects Sensitive Information
Your customers trust you with their data. It is your duty to protect this information as well as you can. A failure to do so will result in some very real—and potentially catastrophic—consequences for your customers.
It doesn’t take much for a cybercriminal to steal someone’s identity.
Sensitive data like social security numbers make this process much easier for a cybercriminal, but they aren’t essential. Your full name and birthdate can give cybercriminals all they need to create trouble.
Salesforce data security needs to keep these dangers in mind for the sake of your customers. Neglecting to do so can negatively impact their lives.
Consumer Trust
How likely are you to willingly give your information to somebody if they’ve lost it in the past? A failure to properly protect sensitive information will lead people to believe you might be unable to do so in the future as well.
Data breaches happen all the time. However, those with mediation considerations in place can drastically lessen the impact of the breach.
For instance, Kroger pharmacy recently experienced a data breach. However, their segmented system helped contain the breach and only 2% of customers had their information potentially exposed.
A proven ability to protect your customers’ data grows confidence in your business as a whole.
Compliance Concerns
Certain industries deal with more sensitive information than others. And while data security needs to be a priority for all businesses, government regulations are in place related to the handling of customer information for particular industries.
The financial and medical industries have access to their customers’ most sensitive information.
A failure to protect this information not only has negative effects on the customers, it can also lead to stiff penalties for the company.
Adherence to government regulations such as the General Data Protect Regulation will guide these institutions to methods that drastically improve the security of their customers’ sensitive information.
Essential Data Security Considerations
Data security involves a combination of tactics. Constant attention is necessary to adjust your methods to best address any potential threats, but there are some overarching considerations that should be kept in mind.
Here are 5 Salesforce data security considerations that can set you—and your customers—up for success.
1. Fortify the Entry Points
The easiest way to get into a house is through the front door. Your Salesforce system has its own version of a front door—the login portals.
These areas should be reinforced with salesforce data security measures. The most basic of these measures is to stress the importance of strong passwords to your team members. Mix capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Use 15 characters. And make these combinations nonsensical.
Administrators should instill two-factor authentication for logins as well. This allows the system to control who enters even when a correct password is entered.
2. Educate Your Team Members
We can be our own worst enemies when it comes to data security. Simple mistakes such as clicking a link in an email can create a snowball effect on the entire system.
Educate your team members to cybercriminal tactics such as phishing and malware. These are disguised messages that can breach your data security measures. Phishing and malware are among the oldest types of cyberattack methods, and for good reason: they work.
3. Backup Your Data
Part of protecting your Salesforce system from data breaches is to prepare for the possibility of losing access to your information. Frequent and reliable data backups and restore capabilities are essential to a well-rounded data security framework.
These backups should be automated and repeated at regular intervals. We recommend backing up your Salesforce data at least once a week, but doing it every day would be ideal.
4. Mask Sensitive Customer Data
Encryption, pseudonymization, and anonymization are all methods of protecting sensitive customer data within your system. These are ways to conceal personally identifiable information by randomizing the characters, changing names, or hiding them altogether.
These methods are essential for industries such as the financial industry that deal with large amounts of extremely sensitive information.
5. Avoid Overexposing Data
The risk of a data security threat increases as more people have access to specific Salesforce data. The only team members that should be able to access this information are the ones that need it to perform their duties.
Update user permissions to avoid overexposing data. And pay attention to various reports and access logs to make sure there aren’t any unauthorized visits from unknown individuals.
