The Federal Trade Commission suggests that all businesses have a security plan in place to keep personal data safe and secure. The FTC provides free resources to businesses for security best practices.
One of these resources provides guidance on protecting personal information. The guide, Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business, offers 5 key principles and several checklists for analyzing security compliance.
According to the Guide, a sound data security plan is built on 5 key principles:
- Take stock of what personal information you have;
- Scale down and keep only what you need for your business;
- Lock it and protect the information you keep;
- Pitch it and properly dispose of what you no longer need; and
- Plan ahead to create an approach to a security incident.
The guide, including the checklists, can be accessed here.
