Data security consists of putting in place foolproof measures to prevent any unauthorized access to and use of the data in the entity’s database. The ever-increasing ingenuity and sophistication of hackers and cybercriminals, and the consequent deterioration in the data security environment makes it absolutely essential for businesses, more so for the B2B to marketing entities, to keep ahead of the fraudsters for all they need is just one chink in the data security armor to ruin business reputation and future prospects. And threats to data security arise not only from cybercrime but also from various intra firm factors. Data can get lost from system failures, can be caused by a virus and altered or deleted by a hacker as well as from lost devices such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone.

There are three broad ways in which a compromised data security system can impact a business entity and for that matter any other organization with a significant public exposure:

1. Damages, costs and fines in the form of legal fees, cost of auditing services and repayment to customers.

2. Reputational damage. A far worse consequence. The Huge loss of face to the US Government from the Wikileaks and to the. celebrities around the globe from the Panama papers disclosures immediately come to mind.

3, Job losses, particularly the executive level jobs at the higher echelons of management. The celebrated cases of data breaches and the rolling of executive’s heads in their aftermath, like those at Adobe, LinkedIn, Yahoo, eBay, Adult Friendfinder, and Marriott International immediately flash in mind. 

Data security is premised on the principle ‘the more systems you secure, the safer you are’.  Based on this general principle, the data security structure of a B2B lead generation firm, like those of firms in general and comprise the following; -

1. Keep reviewing and updating your data security infrastructure In particular, keep a watch on the systems which more likely to be breached such as unsecured portals, networks and websites.
2. Strictly enforce only role-based access based on the job titles of the employees.
3. Use antivirus measures, data backup recovery software and firewalls.
4. Use endpoint protection software which keeps a check on employees’ access to the unsecured webpages’

To sum up; no business, least of all a B2B lead generating and branding one afford to compromise on data security. Investing in data security ensures not only business survival but also sustained growth. It protects  you avoid fire fighting measures in case of unpleasant and sometimes ruinous data breach surprises.