For the past few years, the CRM market has witnessed steady growth and it is projected to reach $89 billion by 2024. Estimates are that this growth will continue into the foreseeable future. Essentially, CRM systems have come to stay and have become the backbone of many organizations.

However, the bleak state of cybersecurity cuts across many industries, and CRM systems are equally vulnerable. Hence, organizations need to make concerted efforts to secure their customers’ data, which can be sensitive.

However, there are seven key practices you can use to secure your cloud CRM data and ensure that your organization is compliant.

Streamlined Data Access

A fundamental principle in data security is the principle of least privilege, which means that users should only have the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job functions. Streamlining data access according to this principle reduces the risk of both accidental and malicious internal threats.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is an effective way to implement this principle because it allows for fine-grained governance, ensuring that people can only access the data necessary for their roles. However, to maintain optimal security, it’s essential to regularly review and adjust permissions and access controls to match each person’s job function.

Maintaining such a proactive approach ensures that only the right people have access to sensitive data and that permissions evolve with changing roles and responsibilities.

Continuous User Activity Monitoring

Monitoring user activity on a continuous basis is essential for identifying and responding to potential threats in real time. By keeping a close eye on an individual’s network behavior, organizations can catch suspicious activities early. These may include unusual login patterns, access to large volumes of sensitive data, and unauthorized data downloads.

Because continuous monitoring allows for immediate responses, it can greatly reduce the window of opportunity for malicious actors to cause harm. Behavioral analytics play a pivotal role in this process by establishing baseline patterns for each user, and any deviation from these norms can trigger alerts that require swift action.

To this end, implementing Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools or leveraging built-in CRM analytics can significantly enhance your ability to monitor and respond. File integrity and change monitoring systems are especially useful for managing these specific challenges.

Activating CRM Audit Logs

Audit logs record every user action with a system, including data access, modifications, deletions, additions, and exports. Enabling the logs in cloud CRM software is a crucial first step in securing your data.

Such meticulous records serve multiple purposes, including empowering organizations to identify unauthorized or suspicious activity promptly. Whether it’s an unexpected data export or an unusual data access pattern, audit logs provide the needed information to trace the source of a potential compromise.

For many industries, maintaining these logs is not just a best practice but a compliance requirement. To maximize their effectiveness, ensure that the logs capture key details, such as user IDs, timestamps, IP addresses, login requests, access requests, and other specific actions performed.

Data Encryption Protocols

Encrypting CRM data is non-negotiable because of the sensitive information that is being protected. Data encryption ensures that even if data is intercepted or accessed by unauthorized parties, it remains unreadable and unusable.

Encrypting data at rest protects it from physical theft of storage devices or unauthorized access. Encrypting data in transit is equally important, as it prevents interception by attackers during data transfers between the CRM system and users.

Effective encryption also requires securely managing encryption keys, including regular rotations and limiting access to these keys to trusted personnel only.

Regular Data Backups

In the event of a cyber attack, accidental data deletion, or system failure, backups provide a lifeline for disaster recovery and business continuity. Having reliable backups means that your organization can quickly restore CRM data, minimizing downtime and data loss.

Backups are particularly effective in defending against ransomware attacks. By maintaining up-to-date backups stored off-site in multiple locations, organizations can restore their systems without giving in to ransom demands.

Additionally, creating redundant backups further enhances security by providing multiple fallback options. Regularly testing backups for integrity and recoverability is essential to ensure that they function as intended when needed.

Clear Data Retention Policies

Data retention policies are critical in minimizing data exposure and managing the data lifecycle effectively. Ideally, organizations should retain data only for as long as necessary, and outdated or irrelevant information should be deleted securely.

This practice reduces the amount of data at risk and limits the potential impact of a data breach. More so, many industries have specific cybersecurity regulations regarding data retention. This alone makes it essential for organizations to establish clear policies that align with and even go beyond the set requirements.

Ultimately, a well-defined and automated data retention policy will help manage the entire data lifecycle and can further enhance security and reduce the risk of human error.

Choosing Trusted Providers

Ultimately, your choice of a CRM provider will determine a lot about how secure your customers’ data will be. Normally, a trusted provider should possess relevant certifications, such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2, and comply with industry-specific regulations like GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA.

A reliable CRM provider will offer comprehensive security features built into their platform that are designed to ensure that your data is protected at every stage. Transparency in their security policy and a proven track record of reliability, uptime, and customer support are similarly key indicators of a trustworthy provider.

Furthermore, consider the provider’s history in handling security incidents. A provider with a strong security posture and a proactive approach to incident management can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches.

Conclusion

The surge in cloud CRM adoption presents a double-edged sword: immense potential for streamlined operations as well as heightened vulnerability to data breaches. Striking the right balance necessitates a multi-faced approach to data security as discussed in this article.

Data security is essential for sustainable growth and maintaining customer trust and should not be treated as an afterthought but a prerequisite when dealing with customer data.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this and other guest author articles are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of Tripwire.