Keep the Door Locked – Security & CRM

14 Dec 2011

A subject that is always close to hand is that of security and the cloud. This is a broad issue that cannot be easily answered in a media-friendly snapshot. Ask yourself how safe is your office? You may have brand new locks on the doors, but haven’t got round to securing the windows. And those locks seem a lot less safe when you think about the spare key you leave at the often unattended reception desk. If you take a look around, you might see old water pipes, overloaded power points and wiring that could do with an overhaul. The more you think about security, the more complex an issue it becomes.

A cloud-based CRM solution too comes with its own set of questions that address security. You need to think about how to access the system, how to set permission levels and how to prevent the destruction or theft of data. Setting up your system requires careful consideration to achieve the right balance of security without compromising on user-friendliness.

We have been carrying out plenty of checks to make sure the OpenCRM office is as secure and safe as can be. Here are a few security measures we have or are currently putting into place:

Log-In Details are not saved. This is to prevent a “key under the mat” scenario. When you log out, your details are not saved, so anyone attempting to access your log-in will have to know your full username and password, these won’t be automatically filled in when someone start to type.

Profiles and Roles. You can decide on a number of levels which information and which records are accessible to which group of users. An example of this is to set fields on a record such as User Name that can only be edited by users that have access to that role. This is a measure that can be used to safeguard certain information against tampering.

User Restrictions. As well as setting limitations of access at profile and role level, you can also restrict accessibility on a user level. These measures allow you to control viewing and editing of information just how you and your organisation need to.

Audit Trailing. If you are under the impression that there is suspicious activity happening in your CRM solution, using the audit functions can show you details of when a record has been edited, what has been edited and who was responsible.

IP address restrictions and permissions. You can control which accounts can be accessed from which IP addresses. This protects that user’s account from being accessed from addresses other than those specified, if this setting is enabled.

Password Policy settings. Within OpenCRM there are a number of rules at your disposition to set a password policy for your organisation. These include enforcing minimum password length, use of mixed letters, numbers, symbols, upper and lower case and not being able to use dictionary words.

Of course the more complex a password becomes it also gets harder to remember. With this in mind, we have made it easier for your admin users to unlock accounts if they have been locked by accident.

For more information about you and your CRM security do not hesitate to give us a call or drop us a line.