The old adage “prevention is better than cure” certainly applies to data privacy. A small piece harmful code that is uploaded to your website can cause massive damage. From pop-ups to a complete system breach, or even the theft of a password or session. As part of your data security guidelines you must define how often and when your system scans for this type of malicious code. Also, you should determine what security measures are in place to reduce the risk.
Update any scripts or software platforms which you use on your site regularly. Hackers are able to exploit security holes in popular web software applications and an absence of timely updates opens your system up to attack. It is also recommended to restrict access to your network or database to the minimum number of people required to perform their work.
Create a plan of action to address any potential breaches and designate an employee to oversee the process. Depending on the nature of your business, you might require notification of the law enforcement, consumers, customers and credit bureaus. This is a serious matter which should be planned in advance.
Implement strong password requirements for consumer accounts. Make sure you have a reliable method to store passwords, like requiring the use of upper and lowercase numerals, letters and special characters or using salt and hash functions that are slow. Avoid storing confidential information about users, and should you have to reduce the risk, do so by encryption or deletion of the data after a certain time.