What is Financial Data Security?
Financial data that needs to be secured includes your organization’s credit and debit cards, statements, bills, receipts, customer personally identifiable information (PII) and other financial documents, and it also extends to others for whom you retain financial data, such as vendor banking information and client banking information. The high value of PII, which may include banking details, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, home addresses, email addresses, income information, and more, commands a high price on the dark web, making them highly attractive targets to cyberattackers. In order to defend your organization against cyberattacks, protect sensitive financial records, and to help meet financial cybersecurity compliance requirements, the following tips are offered:
Prioritize data security. Create and adhere to financial data security compliance and governance policies and emphasize their importance to staff. Create a culture in your organization that places a high value on securing sensitive information and following financial data management policies.
Examine transactions. Use an expense application to display and evaluate all of your fixed expenses, variable expenses, and the payment modes used, so that you can determine if there are safer or more efficient ways to complete transactions.
Credit and banking monitoring. Regularly review credit reports, credit card activity, and bank statements in order to identify any anomalous actions. Smart monitoring solutions are software programs that can help to detect fraudulent transactions by collecting and analyzing financial reports and activities.
Be careful with third-party vendors. Third-party vendors may not have security standards that are as high as your own. In order to protect yourself, ensure that financial transactions with third-party vendors are made through payment methods that are secure and convenient, and that they comply with your financial data security and secure data handling policies.
Compare bank account types. Business accounts are created for the specific needs of business customers. Generally, business accounts are safer and more convenient than traditional bank accounts, as the methods for handling and storing data are designed with business financial data security in mind. Evaluate whether your organization would be better protected with a business or traditional bank account, before committing to one.
The following tips can also help to secure your organization’s financial information:
- Use multi-factor authentication
- Create strong passwords and change them regularly
- Do not click on suspicious email links or open suspicious attachments
- Update software regularly
- Use cloud-based services
- Create secure remote access to your network
- Train staff to be aware of cybersecurity threats and cyber hygiene practices
- Adopt zero trust strategies for access controls