Information Security Measures Every Business Needs To Know About

Sept. 16, 2009 - PRLog -- Do you do business outside of your state's geographic borders? If so, you need to know about the latest liability lurking in privacy and information security laws.

Nevada and Massachusetts are the first states to adopt new laws to force businesses from manicurists to medical facilities to give a face-lift to the way they protect their customer information. These new laws will require businesses that collect information about that state's residents to encrypt sensitive data stored on laptop computers and other portable devices to protect them from data piracy. Michigan and Washington are right behind these two pioneering states in enacting this type of law.

That means that if you do business on the internet as well as in these states and collect personally identifiable information, like names and credit card numbers, you need to protect all of your computers with encryption software to safeguard your customers and significantly reduce your liability for a data breach. Of course this does involve an investment. According to the Wall Street Journal, "The Massachusetts government estimates that a business with 10 employees will need to spend $3,000 up front, plus an additional $500 a month in order to comply. Security executives at larger firms said they expect to spend a similar amount per employee."

Though there is an upfront cost for these security measures, it is much less expensive to invest now than take your chances with some of the penalties for data security breaches. 40 states now have security breach notification laws in effect to protect people from identity fraud and theft. These new laws are a preventive security measure and open the door for civil suits for data security negligence in such cases if they are not followed. Last year 500 firms reported security breaches and in a state, like Nevada, enforcing the new law can cap your liability if something horrible happens to your data instead of leaving it open-ended.

Limit your liability now and protect your data, one of your most valuable assets, through encryption as well as the proper policies and procedures.

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