Keep a client database? If your pet industry business is reasonably sized, you need to understand the Federal Government’s Notifiable Data Breaches laws.

If your company meets the criteria of $3 million a year, you are obliged to report data breaches to both the Privacy Commissioner and your customers, and you face steep fines if you fail to do so. READ MORE

63 data breaches were reported in just the first 6 weeks of operation. Health, level, accounting, management services, financial, private education and charities were all affected, and nearly half were due to criminal attacks. While there were relatively few persons affected in each case, there was an association between companies that hold financial information and extent of the attack.

WHAT TO DO?

1. Chat to your web provider about making your website as secure as possible, especially if it contains client data or online bookings.
2. Consider separating clients’ personal information, for example by using an external secure credit card processing company so you are not keeping client’s credit card information on site.
3. Maintain secure off site backups so that data can be reconstructed if necessary.
4. Only take the minimum of client information that you actually need to run the business.

Source: adapted from Smart Company  May 2018