In most Burbank property management blogs, you will see a range of information about finding good tenants, collecting rents, and evicting tenants. Unfortunately, most blogs don’t write about the importance of protecting your tenant’s sensitive information.
Privacy is a big issue in 2018 and going forward. When a tenant hands over his information to you, it is your responsibility to ensure that the information does not enter into wrong hands. Your tenant expects you to protect the information and keep it safe from misuse. Unfortunately, when it comes to managing tenant’s information, most landlords and property management companies don’t know how to do it properly.
A tenant can sue you for mismanaging his information. Most online criminals know they can obtain credit card and Social Security numbers if they can hack into property management company database. You need to ensure you guard against this even if you have limited IT knowledge. In this article, you will learn of top ways to protect your tenant’s sensitive information.
4 Ways to Protect Your Tenant’s Sensitive Information
- Make use of Security Firewalls and Passwords
If you are going to store your tenant’s sensitive information in your computer, you must ensure that you have what it takes to protect it.
Your tenants won’t find losing their information to online criminal’s funny as a result of your carelessness. The least protection you can offer to their data is by enabling firewall protection on your computer to protect their data. To make it even more secure, make sure you add a second level of protection by using a password-protected Wi-Fi connection. This will help you keep some hackers away.
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Understands How Malware Can Affect You
Every day, hackers are growing in sophistication. Nowadays, you can be lured to click on a link that will automatically download a malware that will bypass your security protocols.
Make sure you read up on malwares and how they work. Moreover, avoid clicking on links that you are not sure of. Some of these malwares are so strong that they can actually bypass your anti-malware and cause you a lot of damages. These hackers are learning and upgrading their tools as well as method of operation every day.
We will recommend you have a separate computer for managing your property management business. This will ensure that whatever happens in your private computer will not affect your business.
- Read Up on Security Tips
As a landlord, if you have chosen not to make use of professional property management companies, the least you can do is to learn some security tips to help keep your clients’ information safe. Some of these security tips include:
- Install high-quality anti-malware software
- Make use of 2-factor authentication to log into your accounts
- Access your data only when you are on a secure, password-protected Wi-Fi network.
- Avoid storing credit card and Social Security numbers. You can keep a manual copy instead
Final Words
Privacy is a serious topic. A landlord must ensure that he provides a safe and secure place for his tenants to live. However, you must also ensure you keep their information safe at all times. Like we mentioned above, a tenant can sue you in case of data breach. Make sure you do all it takes to protect your tenant’s sensitive information. You can make use of an experienced Los Angeles property management company to ensure the safety of your tenant’s information or read up on data security tips.
