Every Association has sensitive information that it needs to protect to ensure the safety of the association and its residents. Associations that have safe practices for keeping their residents' information safe can protect their residents, avoid liability, and generally operate more smoothly.
Keep reading to learn about some of the ways your association can help protect sensitive data.
What is Sensitive Data in an HOA?
Sensitive data in an HOA (Homeowners Association) includes any information that could be used to identify, contact, or locate an individual member of the community or compromise their security if exposed. This typically encompasses personal details like names, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, financial records, social security numbers, and any legal documents related to property ownership or personal disputes. Protecting this data is crucial to maintain privacy and security for all members of the association and to comply with applicable privacy laws.
What’s an HOA data breach?
An HOA data breach occurs when unauthorized access is gained to the association's private records that contain sensitive information. This can happen through various means such as hacking, physical theft of documents, or inadvertent disclosure due to poor security practices. The impact of a data breach can be severe, exposing residents to identity theft, financial loss, and legal liabilities. It also undermines trust in the association’s ability to safeguard its members’ interests, potentially leading to reputational damage and increased scrutiny from regulatory bodies.
Top 7 Recommendations for HOA's to Protect Sensitive Data
In an era where data breaches are increasingly common, it's essential for Homeowners Associations (HOAs) to adopt stringent data protection measures. The following recommendations are designed to fortify your HOA's defenses against potential cyber threats and ensure the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive member data.
1. Obey the Laws Related to Associations
It's critical to educate yourself on the laws in place to protect your association's private information. Understanding those laws can help your association avoid penalties and other legal issues that come with disobeying them.
Following these regulations also protects you from lawsuits from residents or other parties, like vendors, who feel that their information was compromised due to negligence on the part of the association.
2. Educate Your Board Members
An educated board will be more successful in protecting your association's personal information. Ongoing education regarding data protection is a must. Additionally, you will also need to ensure that your board is getting training on cyber security and how to keep your private information secured.
3. Create a Document Policy
Your board should be working closely with the community manager to determine how to protect your association's data.
The following are some things to consider when deciding what data is and how it will be protected:
- determine what constitutes sensitive data such as account numbers and contact information
- the different types of data that you will store
- how you will store the information that you keep
- What software the association uses currently to track and store that data
- What protections you already have in place
- how to handle a data breach
- how to reset your system after a breach to keep it from happening again in the future
- rules for using the technology programs provided by the association
It's also important to monitor who has access to HOA documents and how "exposed" the documents are to those who could use the information to harm individuals.
4. Ensure You Are Using the Right Technology Partners
Choosing the right technology partners is vital to ensuring that you have an easy-to-use platform that will allow residents access to the information they need. The more trustworthy the platform is, the more residents will want to use it.
5. Educate Your Residents
Offering training on how to use the association's platform to access private information can help residents find the information they need without compromising the private data that the association stores.
Help residents spot possible trouble when cyber-attacks or other data breaches happen.
6. Review Your Association's Insurance Coverage
No matter how secure your systems are, you should prepare in advance for a potential data breach. Therefore, you should review your association's insurance policies to verify that they cover losses and damages in case of a data breach.
It's important to keep in mind that these policies do not usually cover cyber liabilities or data breaches unless expressly stated.
7. Implement Various Security Features
Data protection starts with the security features used in your association's system. You should consider encrypting files, password-protecting data, or implementing biometric technology. This helps unauthorized access to your association's data.
You should also have an anti-virus, anti-malware, or anti-spyware installed. To avoid complete loss of data in case of a data breach, you should perform regular backups of critical and sensitive data.
Keep Your HOA’s Data Safe
Your association's information is an asset that all board members should always protect. Hackers are constantly digging for new ways to infiltrate association's systems to acquire their private information.
At RealManage, we understand the effects that digital threats have on your association's data security and reputation. We have the right experience and talent to help your association tackle any challenges.
Contact us today to learn how our professionals can help you protect your association's data and keep it running.
