Data protection. More than ever, data protection has become a concern of anyone who uses the Internet—from social media sites to online shopping…and even ministries. The 2018 Global Trends in Giving Report reveals that an overwhelming 92% of donors believe it’s “important that…nonprofits and charities make a concerted effort to protect their contact and financial information from data breaches.”
When it comes to your website and email system, privacy measures should be at the top of your list. Here are three ways you can protect the data of your partners behind the scenes.
Protect Partner Data by Keeping Software Up-to-Date
The top way to protect data in your ministry is by making sure your software solutions are current. The well-known Equifax breach could have been prevented had their software simply been up-to-date. Many professionals consider software updates to be nothing more than feature tweaks to their software—but it’s much more than that. Software updates regularly bring security patches that “patch up newly-discovered holes” where hackers could enter. A good cloud platform like DonorDirect’s Studio Enterprise with Advanced CRM is automatically and continually updated behind-the-scenes, so you don’t have to worry about the security of your data. Of course, operating system software, browsers, and any other locally installed software should regularly receive the latest fixes from your IT team.
Protect Partner Data by Encouraging Strong Passwords
Weak passwords lead to many accounts being hacked simply because users make it easy for hackers to guess their way in. In a recent survey by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), for accounts that had been breached, 23.2 million of them used the same password: “123456.” Other popular passwords included “123456789,” “qwerty,” and, of course, “password.” By encouraging internal team members and partners to use more complicated passwords, you can ensure better security overnight. Using hard-to-guess passwords that include numbers and symbols makes anyone’s account more secure.
Protect Partner Data by Limiting Access
Not everyone in your organization needs access to all the information on a donor’s account. The final way to protect data is by not making it available in the first place. By using a CMS that allows you to customize the dashboards that different departments use, you can withhold unnecessary information from departments who don’t need it. Solutions like DonorDirect make this feature available in an easy-to-use package.
When you have strong security measures, your partners will find comfort in using your website and receiving your emails—and ultimately in keeping their partnership strong. Let them know you put their privacy first and want only what’s best for them. If you would like to see how DonorDirect automatically protects donor data in an all-in-one, always-updated solution, schedule a personalized demo with our team today. We’d love to hear from you!