Federal Trade Commission | business.ftc.gov

A Guide for Business

PROTECTING PERSONAL

INFORMATION
Most companies keep sensitive personal information in 

their files—names, Social Security numbers, credit card, 

or other account data—that identifies customers 

or employees.

This information often is necessary to fill orders, meet 

payroll, or perform other necessary business functions. 

However, if sensitive data falls into the wrong hands, it 

can lead to fraud, identity theft, or similar harms. Given 

the cost of a security breach—losing your customers’ 

trust and perhaps even defending yourself against a 

lawsuit—safeguarding personal information is just plain 

good business.

Some businesses may have the expertise in-house to 

implement an appropriate plan. Others may find it helpful to 

hire a contractor. Regardless of the size—or nature—of your 

business, the principles in this brochure will go a long way 

toward helping you keep data secure.
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A sound data security plan is built on 5 key principles:

1. TAKE STOCK.

Know what personal information you 

have in your files and on your computers.

2. SCALE DOWN. 

Keep only what you need for your business.

3. LOCK IT. 

Protect the information that you keep.

4. PITCH IT. 

Properly dispose of what you no longer need.

5. PLAN AHEAD.

Create a plan to respond to security incidents.

Use the checklists on the following pages to see how your 

company’s practices measure up—and where changes are 

necessary. 
2

1. TAKE STOCK. 

Know what personal information you 

have in your files and on your computers.

Effective data security starts with assessing what 

information you have and identifying who has access 

to it. Understanding how personal information moves 

into, through, and out of your business and who has—or 

could have—access to it is essential to assessing security 

vulnerabilities. You can determine the best ways to secure 

the information only after you’ve traced how it flows. 

● Inventory all computers, laptops, mobile devices, 

flash drives, disks, home computers, digital copiers, 

and other equipment to find out where your company 

stores sensitive data. 

Also, inventory the 

information you have 

by type and location. 

Your file cabinets 

and computer 

systems are a start, 

but remember: your 

business receives 

personal information 

in a number of 

ways—through websites, from contractors, from call 

centers, and the like. What about information saved 

on laptops, employees’ home computers, flash drives, 

digital copiers, and mobile devices? No inventory is 

complete until you check everywhere sensitive data 

might be stored.
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1 Take Stock

● Track personal information through your business 

by talking with your sales department, information 

technology staff, human resources office, accounting 

personnel, and outside service providers. Get a 

complete picture of:

► Who sends sensitive personal information to 

your business. Do you get it from customers? 

Credit card companies? Banks or other financial 

institutions? Credit bureaus? Job applicants? 

Other businesses?

► How your business receives personal 

information. Does it come to your business 

through a website? By email? Through the mail? Is 

it transmitted through cash registers in stores?

► What kind of information you collect at each 

entry point. Do you get credit card information 

online? Does your accounting department keep 

information about customers’ checking accounts?
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SECURITY CHECK

Question:

Are there laws that require my company to keep sensitive 

data secure?

Answer:

Yes. While you’re taking stock of the data in your files, take 

stock of the law, too. Statutes like the Gramm-Leach-Bliley 

Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Federal Trade 

Commission Act may require you to provide reasonable 

security for sensitive information.

To find out more, visit business.ftc.gov/privacy-and-security

► Where you keep the information you collect 

at each entry point. Is it in a central computer 

database? On individual laptops? On a cloud 

computing service? On employees’ smartphones, 

tablets, or other mobile devices? On disks or 

tapes? In file cabinets? In branch offices? 

Do employees have files at home?
5

1 Take Stock

● Who has—or could have—access to the information? 

Which of your employees has permission to access 

the information? Do they need access? Could anyone 

else get hold of it? What about vendors who supply 

and update software you use to process credit card 

transactions? Contractors operating your call center?

● Different types of information present varying risks. 

Pay particular attention to how you keep personally 

identifying information: Social Security numbers, credit 

card or financial information, and other sensitive data. 

That’s what thieves use most often to commit fraud or 

identity theft.
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SECURITY CHECK

Question:

We like to have accurate information about our customers, 

so we usually create a permanent file about all aspects of 

their transactions, including the information we collect from 

the magnetic stripe on their credit cards. Could this put their 

information at risk?

Answer:

Yes. Keep sensitive data in your system only as long as you 

have a business reason to have it. Once that business need 

is over, properly dispose of it. If it’s not in your system, it 

can’t be stolen by hackers.

2. SCALE DOWN. 

Keep only what you need for your 

business.

If you don’t have a legitimate business need for sensitive 

personally identifying information, don’t keep it. In fact, 

don’t even collect it. If you have a legitimate business need 

for the information, keep it only as long as it’s necessary.

● Use Social Security numbers only for required and 

lawful purposes—like reporting employee taxes. 

Don’t use Social Security numbers unnecessarily—

for example, as an employee or customer 

identification number, or because you’ve always 

done it.
2 Scale Down

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● If your company develops a mobile app, make sure 

the app accesses only the data and functionality 

that it needs. And don’t collect and retain personal 

information unless it’s integral to your product or 

service. Remember, if you collect and retain data, you 

must protect it.

● Don’t keep customer credit card information unless 

you have a business need for it. For example, don’t 

retain the account number and expiration date 

unless you have an essential business need to do so. 

Keeping this information—or keeping it longer than 

necessary—raises the risk that the information could 

be used to commit fraud or identity theft.

● Scale down access to data. Follow the “principle of 

least privilege.” That means each employee should 

have access only to those resources needed to do 

their particular job. 

If you must keep information 

for business reasons, or to 

comply with the law, develop a 

written records retention policy 

to identify what information 

must be kept, how to secure it, 

how long to keep it, and how to 

dispose of it securely when you 

no longer need it.
8

3. LOCK IT. 

Protect the information that you keep.

What’s the best way to protect the sensitive personally 

identifying information you need to keep? It depends on the 

kind of information and how it’s stored. The most effective 

data security plans deal with four key elements: physical 

security, electronic security, employee training, and the 

security practices of contractors and service providers.

Physical Security

Many data compromises happen the 

old-fashioned way—through lost or 

stolen paper documents. Often, the 

best defense is a locked door or an 

alert employee.

● Store paper documents or files, as well as thumb 

drives and backups containing personally identifiable 

information, in a locked room or in a locked file 

cabinet. Limit access to employees with a legitimate 

business need. Control who has a key, and the 

number of keys.

● Require that files containing personally identifiable 

information be kept in locked file cabinets except 

when an employee is working on the file. Remind 

employees not to leave sensitive papers out on their 

desks when they are away from their workstations.

● Require employees to put files away, log off their 

computers, and lock their file cabinets and office 

doors at the end of the day.
3 Lock It

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● Implement appropriate access controls for your 

building. Tell employees what to do and whom to call 

if they see an unfamiliar person on the premises.

● If you maintain offsite storage facilities, limit employee 

access to those with a legitimate business need. 

Know if and when someone accesses the storage site.

● If you ship sensitive information using outside carriers 

or contractors, encrypt the information and keep an 

inventory of the information being shipped. Also use 

an overnight shipping service that will allow you to 

track the delivery of your information.

● If you have devices that collect sensitive information, 

like PIN pads, secure them so that identity thieves 

can’t tamper with them. Also, inventory those items 

to ensure that they have not been switched.

Electronic Security

Computer security isn’t just the realm of your IT staff. Make 

it your business to understand the vulnerabilities of your 

computer system, and follow the advice of experts in the field.

General Network Security

● Identify the computers or servers where sensitive 

personal information is stored.

● Identify all connections to the computers where you 

store sensitive information. These may include the 

internet, electronic cash registers, computers at your 

branch offices, computers used by service providers 

to support your network, digital copiers, and wireless 

devices like smartphones, tablets, or inventory scanners.
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● Assess the vulnerability of each connection to 

commonly known or reasonably foreseeable attacks. 

Depending on your circumstances, appropriate 

assessments may range from having a knowledgeable 

employee run off-the-shelf security software to having 

an independent professional conduct a full-scale 

security audit.

● Don’t store sensitive 

consumer data on any 

computer with an internet 

connection unless it’s 

essential for conducting 

your business.

● Encrypt sensitive 

information that you send 

to third parties over public networks (like the internet), 

and encrypt sensitive information that is stored on 

your computer network, laptops, or portable storage 

devices used by your employees. Consider also 

encrypting email transmissions within your business.

● Regularly run up-to-date anti-malware programs on 

individual computers and on servers on your network.

● Check expert websites (such as www.us-cert.gov) 

and your software vendors’ websites regularly for 

alerts about new vulnerabilities, and implement 

policies for installing vendor-approved patches to 

correct problems.
3 Lock It

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● Restrict employees’ ability to download unauthorized 

software. Software downloaded to devices that 

connect to your network (computers, smartphones, 

and tablets) could be used to distribute malware.

● Scan computers on your network to identify and 

profile the operating system and open network 

services. If you find services that you don’t need, 

disable them to prevent hacks or other potential 

security problems. For example, if email service or 

an internet connection is not necessary on a certain 

computer, consider closing the ports to those services 

on that computer to prevent unauthorized access to 

that machine.

● When you receive or transmit credit card information 

or other sensitive financial data, use Transport 

Layer Security (TLS) encryption or another secure 

connection that protects the information in transit.
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● Pay particular attention to the security of your web 

applications—the software used to give information to 

visitors to your website and to retrieve information 

from them. Web applications may be particularly 

vulnerable to a variety of hack attacks. In one variation 

called an “injection attack,” a hacker inserts malicious 

commands into what looks like a legitimate request 

for information. Once in your system, hackers transfer 

sensitive information from your network to their 

computers. Relatively simple defenses against these 

attacks are available from a variety of sources.

SECURITY CHECK

Question:

We encrypt the financial data customers submit on our 

website. But once we receive it, we decrypt it and email 

it over the internet to our branch offices in regular text. Is 

there a safer practice?

Answer:

Yes. Regular email is not a secure method for sending 

sensitive data. The better practice is to encrypt any 

transmission that contains information that could be used by 

fraudsters or identity thieves.
3 Lock It

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Authentication

● Control access to sensitive information by requiring 

that employees use “strong” passwords. Tech security 

experts say the longer the password, the better. 

Because simple passwords—like common dictionary 

words—can be guessed easily, insist that employees 

choose passwords with a mix of letters, numbers, and 

characters. Require an employee’s user name and 

password to be different. Require password changes 

when appropriate—for example, following a breach.

► Consider using multi-factor authentication, such as 

requiring the use of a password and a code sent 

by different methods.

● Explain to employees why it’s against company 

policy to share their passwords or post them near 

their workstations.

● Use password-activated screen savers to lock 

employee computers after a period of inactivity.

● Lock out users who don’t enter the correct password 

within a designated number of log-on attempts.

● Warn employees about possible calls from identity 

thieves attempting to deceive them into giving out 

their passwords by impersonating members of your 

IT staff. Let employees know that calls like this are 

always fraudulent, and that no one should be asking 

them to reveal their passwords.
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● When installing new software, immediately change 

vendor-supplied default passwords to a more secure 

strong password.

● Caution employees against transmitting sensitive 

personally identifying data—Social Security numbers, 

passwords, account information—via email. Unencrypted 

email is not a secure way to transmit information.
3 Lock It

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Laptop Security

● Restrict the use of laptops to those employees who 

need them to perform their jobs.

● Assess whether sensitive information really needs 

to be stored on a laptop. If not, delete it with a 

“wiping” program that overwrites data on the laptop. 

Deleting files using standard keyboard commands 

isn’t sufficient because data may remain on the 

laptop’s hard drive. Wiping programs are available at 

most office supply stores.

● Require employees 

to store laptops in a 

secure place. Even 

when laptops are in use, 

consider using cords and 

locks to secure laptops to 

employees’ desks.

● Consider allowing laptop users to only access 

sensitive information, but not to store the information 

on their laptops. Under this approach, the information 

is stored on a secure central computer and the 

laptops function as terminals that display information 

from the central computer, but do not store it. The 

information could be further protected by requiring 

the use of a token, “smart card,” thumb print, or other 

biometric—as well as a password—to access the 

central computer.
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● If a laptop contains sensitive data, encrypt it and 

configure it so users can’t download any software or 

change the security settings without approval from 

your IT specialists. Consider adding an “auto-destroy” 

function so that data on a computer that is reported 

stolen will be destroyed when the thief uses the 

computer to try to get on the internet.

● Train employees to be mindful of security when 

they’re on the road. They should never leave a laptop 

visible in a car, at a hotel luggage stand, or packed 

in checked luggage unless directed to by airport 

security. If someone must leave a laptop in a car, 

it should be locked in a trunk. Everyone who goes 

through airport security should keep an eye on their 

laptop as it goes on the belt.
3 Lock It

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Firewalls

● Use a firewall to protect your computer from hacker 

attacks while it is connected to a network, especially 

the internet. A firewall is software or hardware 

designed to block hackers from accessing your 

computer. A properly configured firewall makes it 

tougher for hackers to locate your computer and get 

into your programs and files.

SECURITY CHECK

Question:

Our account staff needs access to our database of customer 

financial information. To make it easier to remember, we just 

use our company name as the password. Could that create 

a security problem?

Answer:

Yes. Hackers will first try words like “password,” your 

company name, the software’s default password, and 

other easy-to-guess choices. They’ll also use programs 

that run through common English words and dates. To 

make it harder for them to crack your system, select strong 

passwords—the longer, the better—that use a combination 

of letters, symbols, and numbers. Don’t store passwords in 

clear text. Use a password management system that adds 

salt—random data—to hashed passwords and consider 

using slow hash functions.
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● Determine whether you should install a “border” 

firewall where your network connects to the internet. 

A border firewall separates your network from the 

internet and may prevent an attacker from gaining 

access to a computer on the network where you store 

sensitive information. Set “access controls”—settings 

that determine which devices and traffic get through 

the firewall—to allow only trusted devices with a 

legitimate business need to access the network. Since 

the protection a firewall provides is only as effective 

as its access controls, review them periodically.

● If some computers on your network store sensitive 

information while others do not, consider using 

additional firewalls to protect the computers with 

sensitive information.

Wireless and Remote Access

● Determine if you use 

wireless devices like 

smartphones, tablets, or 

inventory scanners or 

cell phones to connect 

to your computer 

network or to transmit 

sensitive information.

● If you do, consider limiting who can use a wireless 

connection to access your computer network. You can 

make it harder for an intruder to access the network 

by limiting the wireless devices that can connect to 

your network.
3 Lock It

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● Encrypt the information you send over your wireless 

network, so that nearby attackers can’t eavesdrop on 

these communications. Look for a wireless router that 

has Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) capability and 

devices that support WPA2.

● Use encryption if you allow remote access to your 

computer network by employees or by service 

providers, such as companies that troubleshoot 

and update software you use to process credit card 

purchases. Consider implementing multi-factor 

authentication for access to your network.
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Digital Copiers

Your information security plan 

should cover the digital copiers 

your company uses. The hard 

drive in a digital copier stores 

data about the documents it 

copies, prints, scans, faxes, or 

emails. If you don’t take steps 

to protect that data, it can be stolen from the hard drive, 

either by remote access or by extraction once the drive has 

been removed.

Here are some tips about safeguards for sensitive data 

stored on the hard drives of digital copiers:

● Get your IT staff involved when you’re thinking about 

getting a copier. Employees responsible for securing 

your computers also should be responsible for 

securing data on digital copiers.

● When you’re buying or leasing a copier, consider 

data security features offered, either as standard 

equipment or as optional add-on kits. Typically, 

these features involve encryption and overwriting. 

Encryption scrambles the data on the hard drive so it 

can be read only by particular software. Overwriting—

also known as file wiping or shredding—replaces the 

existing data with random characters, making it harder 

for someone to reconstruct a file.
3 Lock It

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● Once you choose a copier, take advantage of all its 

security features. You may be able to set the number 

of times data is overwritten—generally, the more 

times the data is overwritten, the safer it is from being 

retrieved. In addition, make it an office practice to 

securely overwrite the entire hard drive at least once 

a month.

● When you return or dispose of a copier, find out 

whether you can have the hard drive removed and 

destroyed, or overwrite the data on the hard drive. 

Have a skilled technician remove the hard drive to 

avoid the risk of breaking the machine.

To find out more, read Copier Data Security: A Guide for 

Businesses at ftc.gov/privacy-and-security (click on Data 

Security).

Detecting Breaches

● To detect network 

breaches when they 

occur, consider using 

an intrusion detection 

system. To be effective, 

it must be updated 

frequently to address 

new types of hacking.

● Maintain central log files of security-related 

information to monitor activity on your network so 

that you can spot and respond to attacks. If there 

is an attack on your network, the log will provide 

information that can identify the computers that have 

been compromised.
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● Monitor incoming traffic for signs that someone is 

trying to hack in. Keep an eye out for activity from new 

users, multiple log-in attempts from unknown users or 

computers, and higher-than-average traffic at unusual 

times of the day.

● Monitor outgoing traffic for signs of a data breach. 

Watch for unexpectedly large amounts of data being 

transmitted from your system to an unknown user. If 

large amounts of information are being transmitted 

from your network, investigate to make sure the 

transmission is authorized.

● Have in place and implement a breach response plan. 

See page 30 for more information.
3 Lock It

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SECURITY CHECK

Question:

I’m not really a “tech” type. Are there steps our computer 

people can take to protect our system from common hack 

attacks?

Answer:

Yes. There are simple fixes to protect your computers from 

some of the most common vulnerabilities. For example, a 

threat called an “SQL injection attack” can give fraudsters 

access to sensitive data on your system.

Protect your systems by keeping software updated and 

conducting periodic security reviews for your network. 

Bookmark the websites of groups like the Open Web 

Application Security Project, www.owasp.org, or SANS 

(SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute’s The Top 

Cyber Security Risks, www.sans.org/top20, for up-to-date 

information on the latest threats—and fixes. And check 

with your software vendors for patches that address new 

vulnerabilities. For more tips on keeping sensitive data 

secure, read Start with Security: A Guide for Business at 

ftc.gov/startwithsecurity.
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Employee Training

Your data security plan may look great on paper, but it’s 

only as strong as the employees who implement it. Take 

time to explain the rules to your staff, and train them to 

spot security vulnerabilities. Periodic training emphasizes 

the importance you place on meaningful data security 

practices. A well-trained workforce is the best defense 

against identity theft and data breaches.

● Check references or do background checks before 

hiring employees who will have access to sensitive data.

● Ask every new employee to sign an agreement to 

follow your company’s confidentiality and security 

standards for handling sensitive data. Make sure 

they understand that abiding by your company’s data 

security plan is an essential part of their duties. 

● Regularly remind employees of your company’s 

policy—and any legal requirement—to keep customer 

information secure and confidential.
3 Lock It

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● Know which employees have access to consumers’ 

sensitive personally identifying information. Pay 

particular attention to data like Social Security 

numbers and account numbers. Limit access to 

personal information to employees with a “need 

to know.”

● Have a procedure in place for 

making sure that workers who 

leave your employ or transfer to 

another part of the company no 

longer have access to sensitive 

information. Terminate their 

passwords and collect keys and 

identification cards as part of the 

check-out routine.

● Create a “culture of security” by implementing a 

regular schedule of employee training. Update 

employees as you find out about new risks and 

vulnerabilities. Make sure training includes employees 

at satellite offices, temporary help, and seasonal 

workers. If employees don’t attend, consider blocking 

their access to the network.

● Train employees to recognize security threats. Tell 

them how to report suspicious activity and publicly 

reward employees who alert you to vulnerabilities. 

Visit ftc.gov/startwithsecurity to show them videos 

on vulnerabilities that could affect your company, 

along with practical guidance on how to reduce data 

security risks.
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● Tell employees about your company policies 

regarding keeping information secure and 

confidential. Post reminders in areas where sensitive 

information is used or stored, as well as where 

employees congregate. Make sure your policies cover 

employees who telecommute or access sensitive data 

from home or an offsite location.

● Teach employees about the dangers of spear 

phishing—emails containing information that makes 

the emails look legitimate. These emails may appear 

to come from someone within your company, 

generally someone in a position of authority. Make 

it office policy to independently verify any emails 

requesting sensitive information. When verifying, do 

not reply to the email and do not use links, phone 

numbers, or websites contained in the email.

● Warn employees about phone phishing. Train them 

to be suspicious of unknown callers claiming to need 

account numbers to process an order or asking for 

customer or employee contact information. Make 

it office policy to double-check by contacting the 

company using a phone number you know is genuine.

● Require employees to notify you immediately if there is a 

potential security breach, such as a lost or stolen laptop.

● Impose disciplinary measures for security 

policy violations.

● For computer security tips, tutorials, and quizzes 

for everyone on your staff, visit www.ftc.gov/

OnGuardOnline.
3 Lock It

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Security Practices of Contractors and 

Service Providers

Your company’s security practices depend on the 

people who implement them, including contractors and 

service providers.

● Before you outsource any of your business 

functions—payroll, web hosting, customer call center 

operations, data processing, or the like—investigate 

the company’s data security practices and compare 

their standards to yours. If possible, visit their facilities.

● Put your security expectations in writing in contracts 

with service providers. Then, don’t just take their 

word for it—verify compliance.

● Insist that your service providers notify you of any 

security incidents they experience, even if the 

incidents may not have led to an actual compromise 

of your data.
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4. PITCH IT. 

Properly dispose of what you no longer need.

What looks like a sack of trash to you can be a gold mine 

for an identity thief. Leaving credit card receipts or papers 

or CDs with personally identifying information in a dumpster 

facilitates fraud and exposes consumers to the risk of 

identity theft. By properly disposing of sensitive information, 

you ensure that it cannot be read or reconstructed.

● Implement information disposal practices that are 

reasonable and appropriate to prevent unauthorized 

access to—or use of—personally identifying 

information. Reasonable measures for your operation 

are based on the sensitivity of the information, the 

costs and benefits of different disposal methods, and 

changes in technology.

SECURITY CHECK

Question:

My company collects credit applications from customers. 

The form requires them to give us lots of financial 

information. Once we’re finished with the applications, 

we’re careful to throw them away. Is that sufficient?

Answer:

No. Have a policy in place to ensure that sensitive 

paperwork is unreadable before you throw it away. Burn it, 

shred it, or pulverize it to make sure identity thieves can’t 

steal it from your trash.
4 Pitch It

29

● Effectively dispose of paper records by shredding, 

burning, or pulverizing them before discarding. 

Make shredders available throughout the workplace, 

including next to the photocopier.

● When disposing of old computers and portable 

storage devices, use software for securely erasing 

data, usually called wipe utility programs. They’re 

inexpensive and can provide better results by 

overwriting the entire hard drive so that the files 

are no longer recoverable. Deleting files using the 

keyboard or mouse commands usually isn’t sufficient 

because the files may continue to exist on the 

computer’s hard drive and could be retrieved easily.

● Make sure employees who work from home follow 

the same procedures for disposing of sensitive 

documents and old computers and portable 

storage devices.

● If you use consumer credit reports for a business 

purpose, you may be subject to the FTC’s Disposal 

Rule. For more information, see Disposing of 

Consumer Report Information? Rule Tells How at 

ftc.gov/privacy-and-security (click on Credit Reporting).
30

5. PLAN AHEAD. 

Create a plan for responding to 

security incidents.

Taking steps to protect data in your possession can 

go a long way toward preventing a security breach. 

Nevertheless, breaches can happen. Here’s how 

you can reduce the impact on your business, your 

employees, and your customers:

● Have a plan in place to respond to security 

incidents. Designate a senior member of your staff 

to coordinate and implement the response plan.

● If a computer is compromised, disconnect it 

immediately from your network.

● Investigate security incidents immediately and 

take steps to close off existing vulnerabilities or 

threats to personal information.

● Consider whom to notify in the event of 

an incident, both inside and outside your 

organization. You may need to notify consumers, 

law enforcement, customers, credit bureaus, and 

other businesses that may be affected by the 

breach. In addition, many states and the federal 

bank regulatory agencies have laws or guidelines 

addressing data breaches. Consult your attorney.
5 Plan Ahead

31

SECURITY CHECK

Question:

I own a small business. Aren’t these precautions going to 

cost me a mint to implement?

Answer:

No. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to data security, 

and what’s right for you depends on the nature of your 

business and the kind of information you collect from 

your customers. Some of the most effective security 

measures—using strong passwords, locking up sensitive 

paperwork, training your staff, etc.—will cost you next 

to nothing and you’ll find free or low-cost security 

tools at non-profit websites dedicated to data security. 

Furthermore, it’s cheaper in the long run to invest in better 

data security than to lose the goodwill of your customers, 

defend yourself in legal actions, and face other possible 

consequences of a data breach.
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Additional Resources

These websites and publications have more information on 

securing sensitive data:

Start with Security

www.ftc.gov/startwithsecurity

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Computer Security Resource Center

www.csrc.nist.gov

SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute

Critical Security Controls

www.sans.org/top20

United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team 

(US-CERT) 

www.us-cert.gov

OnGuard Online

www.ftc.gov/OnGuardOnline

Small Business Administration

www.sba.gov/cybersecurity

Better Business Bureau

www.bbb.org/cybersecurity
About the FTC

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, 

deceptive, and unfair practices in the marketplace and to 

provide information to businesses to help them comply with 

the law. For free compliance resources visit the Business 

Center at business.ftc.gov. 

Opportunity to Comment

The National Small Business Ombudsman and 10 Regional 

Fairness Boards collect comments from small businesses 

about federal compliance and enforcement activities. 

Each year, the Ombudsman evaluates the conduct of 

these activities and rates each agency’s responsiveness 

to small businesses. Small businesses can comment to 

the Ombudsman without fear of reprisal. To comment, call 

toll-free 1-888-REGFAIR (1-888-734-3247) or go to 

www.sba.gov/ombudsman.
Federal Trade Commission

business.ftc.gov

October 2016