Does your Email Service Provider is certified for Information Security of Customer's personal data?

You might have heard recently the news of data theft at Epsilon, and more than 50 million customer's personal information was stolen. You might have also heard about that sosasta’s data recently got compromised.

It is evident from both the incidents that adequate measures have not been put in place by companies to secure their customer's data, which has resulted in hacker's attacks and subsequent compromise of customer's data. Customer's personal data falling into hackers hands is a serious issue, which may result in monetary exploitation, legal suites and etc.

With the launch of Data Seal, the DMA is giving its members a roadmap for how to cope with growing consumer concerns about the security of their personal information.

Central to the standard is the goal of establishing an industry-wide approach to information security and to reflect the tight integration between clients and suppliers when managing personal information. The mechanisms and rules it outlines for protecting data are intended to protect the reputation fo the DM industry as well as offering guidance on how to deal with external complaints and queries.

In order to gain accreditation, member companies have to address a raft of issues, from hardware and software requirements to staff training and processes. The Data Seal is given to a company following an audit by BSI. An annual audit is then required to keep the seal.

So, next time when you talk to your email service provider, ask him straight questions.

1. What Information Security measures have been taken to secure your customer's personal data on their systems?

2. Are the systems and processes are audited for Information Security, by a trusted third pary?

3. What is their road-map for getting DMA Data Security Certification or similar such Certification?

I am sure you would value your customer's private data and will keep it very secure, irrespective of what service providers you use?

DMA DataSeal awarded to eCircle

eCircle leading the way for the email marketing industry by achieving the DMA DataSeal standard, which is a recognized standard for information security management systems. The qualification looks at a number of areas within data security including risk assessment, management responsibility, traceability and responsibility of data. The standard shows eCircle has in place the best possible systems to protect our client’s and their customer’s data.

http://www.ecircle.com/en/home.html

Email Marketing Data Security

Recent events that mined the data from Email Service Providers has affected the credibility of the industry and has increased the importance of email data security and protection of subscriber's personally identifiable information.

There are several ways the email data can be compromised or breached. From employees to information security of the email systems and server infrastructure to policies and permissions in the system.

How does your Email Service provider can prove you that they have taken adequate measures in assuring you the security of the data and protection against the above breaches? Are they getting audited for such measures? Do they have a history of such protection?

For more details, read our presentation at http://www.kenscio.com/resource-center/Email_Marketing_Data_security_april_2011_Kenscio_V2.pdf