How to Make Your Event Site and App Data More Secure
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More so than ever before, people are (rightfully) concerned about data security and privacy. It seems like every other day you see something in the news about a security breach of some company where people’s private data has been compromised.
This has led to laws and regulations across the globe requiring companies to meet certain security and privacy standards, as well as consumer expectations being placed on companies to keep private data safe. With this in mind, it has now become a competitive advantage to implement privacy by design policies and best practices.
As an event planner, you might be thinking that this is outside your realm of responsibility and trust that your company is doing everything it can to keep people’s data safe. And while this may be true, from a company standpoint, it would be shortsighted to not consider data security on your event site or app – especially when utilizing a 3rd party service for building the site and app.
Image courtesy of cvent | crowd compass
Just think about how much data is collected when signing up for an event. You likely require registrants to enter their name, city, state, zip code, email address, company, title, phone number, and more, all before you even ask for their credit card information to pay for the event.
After all the work you’ve put into running an enjoyable, informative, and lucrative event, the last thing you want to do is deal with the backlash of a data breach. In this post, we will review ways you can make your event site and app more secure.
Multi-Factor Authentication Tool
Unfortunately, a username and password just simply aren’t enough to protect accounts anymore. When you consider some of the most popular passwords are 123456 and password, it really sheds light on how easy it can be for hackers to access people’s accounts. Then if you add on the fact that almost two-thirds of people reuse passwords for multiple accounts, you understand how important protecting people’s login credentials on your site or app is.
This is where multi-factor authentication comes in. It’s likely you’ve used two-factor authentication before either at work, or on a social media platform like Facebook, but it is essentially an additional step to the login process that makes it harder for hackers to access accounts.
Two-factor authentication requires users to have their username and password, and after entering those credentials correctly, they are then sent a passcode to their personal mobile phones, email, or a third-party authentication app. They must then enter that passcode on your site or app to access their account.
Image courtesy of cvent | crowd compass
Another type of authentication is passwordless authentication. This is when users don’t enter a password at all, and instead allows them to sign in with their email accounts, social media accounts, or things like face ID. This is a more secure way to log in than simply using passwords because it relies on the security of already well-protected email clients like Outlook.
Restricted Access
There are two parts to restricting or limiting access to your event app or website. The first part is that you should only allow those who will actually be attending (in-person or virtually) to access your event site or app. You can do this by restricting access based upon email address, so only those who registered can access the app, and only using the email address they registered with. This might cause a little confusion if people registered with a work email, but want to use a personal email for accessing the app, but ultimately it’s worth the potential headache. The fewer people who have access to the app, and participant data, the safer your app or site is from a data privacy perspective.
The second part of limiting access is about internal access. While certain team members will need access to attendee data, keeping it to as small of a number as possible keeps the risk low. Very few people within your company need to see people’s contact information and payment information.
Choose a Trusted Third-Party Event App
Chances are you and your company don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to building your own event app, and it’s likely much cheaper and more dependable to use a third-party event app.
There are many options, such as CrowdCompass by Cvent, Pathable, eventmobi, and more. With choosing a provider though, you don’t just want to analyze their functionality and pricing, but also their security features.
How does it host and retain data and ensure privacy? Does the company sell that data? What certifications does the company have like ISO, and PCI certifications?
These are all questions you should ask yourself and compare side by side when selecting a provider. Additionally, make sure that the provider you choose integrates securely with the other platforms you will be using to plan and run your event, such as your email service.
How eTech Can Help
eTech just might be the best kept secret in the technology industry. Whether you’re looking for IT equipment for an upcoming project or planning an event or conference involving complicated event technology integrations, our short-term technology solutions provide value by putting your business in the best light. And, when you outsource with eTech, you leverage our technical expertise while conserving your capital equipment outlays. We are an extension of your team, delivering both the equipment, software, and integrated solutions so you can focus on your event goals instead of getting caught up in the details. Event Planners, IT Managers, Production Coordinators, Project Managers, and Operations Directors at all kinds of companies call on us to support their installation with care and expertise to get the job done right. Contact us today for any of the event planning rentals you need.