In every business setting, confidentiality is crucial. It’s one of those areas of business you should never underestimate. Certainly, neglecting it can lead to lawsuits and lost custom. No matter what business you begin, this should be a top priority.
To some extent, this is common knowledge. What you may not know is exactly where the threats lie. This is a harder issue to get your head around as the risks come from different angles in every enterprise. As such, consider your particular field. What sensitive information do you have, and who would want it? If you don’t know where the risks are, you won’t be in a position to have the protection you should have. We’re going to look at confidentiality risks across three primary fields.
The office
If you run a business based in an office setting, you may not even be aware of the need for confidentiality. As an employer, you have a standard of care to uphold. That includes keeping staff information safe. Still, you may ask yourself who would want sensitive colleague information? For the most part, other colleagues are the risk. It seems strange, but office gossip is often rife. Getting access to an employee’s files could lead to in-office bullying, gossip, and divides. Equally, talking about matters you shouldn’t can cause these issues. If that happens, you open yourself to lawsuits and a lack of trust from employees. Keep all files password protected on your computer to avoid this. You should also avoid speaking about any of your colleagues to other people in the office.
Legal
Speaking of lawsuits, the legal profession also has confidentiality to consider. In a legal setting, you’ll be dealing will all sorts of sensitive files. In many instances, they will include medical records and evidence. Sadly, some people will want to gain access to files like these, especially in high-value cases. They can hardly stroll into your office to get them. But, they may attempt to breach your computer security. As well as destroying your case, this would be the end of your firm. To make sure it doesn’t happen, work with companies like www.vertexcorp.ca who offer IT security solutions. By continually monitoring your Firewall, they can help to stop any breaches before information is leaked.
Medical
No post about confidentiality would be complete without mention of the medical world. As you can see from sites like jme.bmj.com, there are serious legal responsibilities here. In a medical setting, you’ll be dealing with sensitive information about each patient. If that gets out, you’ll be in a world of trouble. In truth, you need to protect from breaches on all sides here. No one, other than your patient and family, should have access to any information. That means getting up to date with your security procedures. Staff should also refuse to speak to anyone who can’t prove a familial connection to your patients.
