This week was International Data Privacy Day which serves as an important reminder for businesses to make sure their own personal data and that of their consumers is protected.
We thought we would take the opportunity to remind businesses the measures we put inot place to protect privacy of user information, and what you as businesses should be enquring is in place on your websites.
4 Website Data Privacy Measures
1. Website is secured by SSL
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) has become extremely important to have on your website as it does a number of things. SSL is an encrypted layer that will protect data passed between the webserver and the users web browser. An additional benefit is that Google will reward sites that have this security measure in place therefore is essential to avoid being penalised in the Google Algorithm against your competitors in search results. Read more about these and how we can establish the right certificate for your website.
2. Have a privacy policy
Having a general privacy policy that considers your primary users is extremely important. Consumers wish to understand where their data is going, how long it is retained and if you are sharing it with anyone. You should consider a plan that outlines the steps you would take in the case of the website being compromised. In one of my recent blog posts about the Generation Z and Millenial target markets, I pointed out the level of value placed on having their online privacy respected. These generations are considering their actions online in respect to their long-term future. Therefore, this reinforces the requirements to have a strong privacy policy as a trust building mechanism between your business and your target market.
Whilst is best to consult legal advice in terms of the content of your privacy policy, there are basic catch-all Privacy Policy Templates specific to the areas of jurisdiction in which your offer your products and services.
3. Be compliant with international privacy policy
A privacy policy may be something easily overlooked by many businesses. However, in 2018 many companies were forced to update their policies to comply with the European privacy regulation known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This policy protects companies that have interaction with users that are cross border. Whilst it is European based, it will likely affect your business of ypu offer goods and services to Europe. Some elements of the GDPR requirements includes; communicating intent of data use prior to receiving it from the user, how information will be stored, user rights and data breaches. If you would like to read more on this regulation and the importance of international privacy policies, click here.
4. Have a secure website admin and hacking protection
At HyperWeb we value having secure website admin and hacking protection systems in place that ensure our WordPress sites are secure and are at minimal risk. Some common practices include; creating a unique admin URL, ongoing scanning, plugin updates, SSL installation (as previously mentioned) and regular backups. We discussed some other measures in a previous blog article.
The security of your website and the personal data of users is extremely important, and we want to deliver value to your users ensuring a pleasant experience. Contact us today to talk about security measures and how we can assist you.
