Every business must comply with data protection regulations and safely maintain all sensitive information. So, your business must be able to communicate easily while keeping up with the legal responsibility to your clients.

Non-secure communication channels can lead to the loss of records, resulting in potential financial penalties, legal prosecution, or even a company shut down.

Over the last few years, there have been several major cases where cybercriminals have been able to infiltrate and extort energy companies, banks, and government organizations because of weak security and faulty communication channels.

Use of Encrypted Email 

Research shows that 85% of company personnel use email to send sensitive data both internally and externally to colleagues, clients, vendors, and other partners.

The use of encrypted email can significantly aid in securing sensitive company data while employees seamlessly go about their day-to-day responsibilities. This ensures that only the authorized parties can access confidential information.

A company can choose to utilize an unenforced or enforced encrypted email policy. The former describes a method called opportunistic TLS, by which an email must be encrypted whenever possible– but the ultimate goal is delivering the email. So, if the recipient’s email server isn’t set up to support TLS, the sender will use an unencrypted channel to complete the message delivery– regardless of security threats.

The latter enforced encrypted email describes a method where emails must be encrypted, even at the expense of delivery. So, if the sender can’t establish a secure channel with the recipient, it won’t send the email.

Knowing the risks of a cyberattack through email, every company should maximize its use of email encryption to help maintain data protection compliance.

Text Messaging

Text messaging is a widespread method for quick communication that extends to the office. However, while the efficiency aspect is indisputable, sending private company information over unsecured channels can open your business up to non-compliance allegations and security breaches.

In addition, when employees send texts using unencrypted messaging applications, IT cannot identify what communications are at risk. Without the ability to archive business conversations, your company may fail to meet regulatory compliance mandates.

Data Privacy Legislation Will Become More Stringent 

In recent years government bodies have been carefully crafting and introducing new regulations to protect consumer data, called personally identifiable information (PII). This includes customer names, addresses, birthdates, bank account information, and credit card information.

The EU’s GDPR and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) passed laws in 2018 that went into effect in January 2020. Other states, including Washington, New Hampshire, and Illinois, followed California’s lead by introducing their own data privacy legislation.

A bill was even proposed to the Senate that suggests putting CEOs in violation of data privacy in jail. The number of data privacy and security regulations around the globe will only continue to grow and adapt in the coming years.

Final Thoughts

The use of secure communication channels has never been more imperative to your company’s operations. Not only can data breaches result in fines from regulators, but they can also do a lot of damage to your reputation and daily business operations.