You already use digital services and IT for your day-to-day business activity. Your MAP Starter Kit makes visible previously hidden investments your business makes to promote client safety and security.
A MAP lets you leverage your tools and workflow as a competitive advantage in gaining and retaining customers.
The MAP is an action plan designed to make clear the steps your business takes to protect itself and its customers.
This Starter Kit includes:
- simple instructions: step-by-step guidance for how to start using a MAP.
- templated content you can use on your business website: immediately signal to customers, vendors, and suppliers that you take securing their information seriously.
1. Decide where on your website the MAP will be most effective.
The templated content which you will copy from below will articulate and showcase how your business takes securing client information seriously.
The location of this information will determine if your customers can find and choose your business over competitors.
Ideally, we'd suggest creating a page titled Security. So if your business website is treehousebnb.club, the security page would be found at treehousebnb.club/security
If you'd rather use an existing page, possible placement could be the About or Mission page. Choosing this option likely means extra work, as you'll need to rework the templated content to fit the language already on your existing page.
2. Introduce your business' commitment to client safety and reliability.
Copy content from this dropdown
We commit to meeting and, over time, exceeding the leading information security standards for small business enterprises－set by Canada and the European Union.
Treehouse B&B is aware of risks faced by clients and vendors. Businesses handling information have a responsibility to safeguard that information against unauthorized use. We also know you need us to be reliable and meet our commitments to you.
Our login standards keep you safe from common threats. And backups ensure we meet our deadlines to you.
Remove mention of the fictional Treehouse B&B business, and use your own wherever appropriate.
3. Outline your planned actions to defend against credential stuffing and similar methods to steal information from your business
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Strong logins
Credential stuffing is a threat where passwords stolen from one service are used by criminals to unlock accounts at another service.
We are aware of such threats. Treehouse B&B are implementing strong passwords and multi-factor authentication (glossary) for services and products that we use to operate our business.
What this means is that stolen passwords cannot be used to access our accounts. Our accounts contain your data and we take our responsibility of safeguarding your data seriously.
Read about how we build safer business through modern login practices.
Check that the links you are copy-pasting work correctly. Including links shows that you have access to the resources you need to secure client data and keep your business operations resilient.
4. Outline your planned measures, to prevent data loss from creating business interruption and violating deadlines
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Resilient backups
30% of people have no backups of their data, their files, the documents they rely on to function day-to-day.
Treehouse B&B is implementing local and offsite automatic backups to recover from the most common incidents involving data loss. Our backups allow us to meet deadlines even if we experience IT issues.
What this means is that we have taken steps to ensure IT incidents, big and small, have the least possible impact on our commitments to you.
Read about how we build safer business through modern backup tools.
Information about your backup measures could be included in pitch decks and terms of service. If your backups make you more reliable at meeting deadlines and commitments than your competitors, use that leverage to help old and new clients.
5. Strategically link to your MAP content from other parts of your website and business material, wherever relevant
Link to your MAP content page where customers can find and choose your business over competitors. This could be through the navigation bar of your business website, the footer, or your emails.
6. (optional) Get the tips and guides
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🎉 That's it, you're done.
Your business website now articulates and demonstrates how you take securing client information seriously.
You can link to this page when you pitch potential clients, from your business blog, and from freelancing profiles.
Help customers seeking secure, reliable businesses find yours.
Consider this content living material. Every time you put in time and effort into safer tools, confidential practices, and the resilience of your business operations－update this document with a note about what you're doing better than your competitors.
Upgrade your MAP
When your business outgrows the Starter Kit, see how an upgraded MAP can leverage your existing investment in securing client data to gain and retain customers, vendors, and suppliers.
Start upgrading.