Introduction: Building on the Foundation of Data Security
In Part 1 of this blog, we explored why data security is the silent hero of CRM success.
We followed Jason’s journey as he discovered the importance of going beyond network security to protect the sensitive customer information within his CRM.
From understanding key focus areas like encryption and access control, to the differences between data and network security, Part 1 laid the groundwork for creating a more secure CRM environment.
But how confident are you in the strength of your data security?
Have you considered whether your current measures are robust enough to protect against evolving threats?
Many small business leaders, like Jason, realize their CRM might still be vulnerable despite strong network defenses.
The question isn’t just whether you’re secure but whether your security practices truly address the complexities of data protection.
In Part 2, we’ll go deeper by exploring the built-in security features of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM.
We’ll uncover how these tools provide robust and easily tailored solutions to safeguard your data, offering practical insights to enhance your CRM security strategy and get your “House” in order.
Let’s continue the journey toward a smarter, safer CRM.
Why Data -Security is the Secret Ingredient for CRM Success
Data security is more than a technical necessity—it’s a fundamental driver of CRM success.
In today’s data-driven world, customers expect businesses to safeguard their information, and the consequences of failing to meet this expectation are severe.
A robust data security strategy not only protects your CRM but also builds trust, ensures compliance, and enables growth.
Let’s explore why data security is the cornerstone of a successful CRM system.
The Benefits of CRM Data Security
A secure CRM delivers a multitude of benefits across key areas critical to business success:
Building Customer Trust: Safeguarding sensitive customer information reinforces trust and demonstrates your commitment to protecting their data.
Protecting Business Reputation: Proactive measures help prevent breaches that could damage your reputation and erode customer loyalty.
Preventing Financial Losses: Avoid costly fines, legal fees, and remediation costs by investing in security upfront.
Enhancing Operational Efficiency: Secure data ensures integrity and availability, empowering teams with accurate information for better decision-making.
Ensuring Regulatory Compliance: Adhering to laws like GDPR and CCPA helps you avoid penalties and maintain operational integrity.
Facilitating Business Growth: A secure CRM supports scalability, enabling the integration of new technologies while protecting expanding data assets.
The Risks of Unsecured Data
On the flip side, unsecured data poses significant risks to businesses.
A single breach can lead to devastating financial losses, irreparable reputational damage, and loss of customer trust.
Moreover, non-compliance with data protection regulations could result in hefty fines and legal challenges.
For small and medium-sized businesses, these risks are especially pronounced, as they often lack the resources to recover quickly from a major data breach.
Without adequate protection, your CRM may become a vulnerability rather than an asset.
Looking Ahead: Dynamics 365 Security Features
While the stakes are high, the solutions are within reach.
Modern CRM systems like Microsoft Dynamics 365 offer a suite of built-in security features designed to address these challenges head-on.
From robust encryption to advanced access controls, these tools help businesses safeguard their data with ease.
In the next section, we’ll take a closer look at these security features and how they empower businesses to achieve peace of mind while maintaining a secure and efficient CRM environment.
Peeking Under the Hood: Security Features in Dynamics 365 CRM
In Part 1, we discussed the Key Focus Areas of Data Security. To review, those were:
Access Control: Manages who has access to view or modify specific data
Data Encryption: Ensures that sensitive information is unreadable during storage & transmission
Data Masking: Obscuring sensitive information when displayed, while maintaining its integrity
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Ensures that sensitive information doesn’t leave the system
We will further explore the Microsoft Dynamics 365 functionality in the sections below.
Access Control
When someone thinks of CRM Data Security, the first thing they might think is, “Who has access to which records?”.
This falls into the “Access Control” category. Access Control focuses on who can view, modify, or delete specific records or columns within a table.
This can quickly become very complex. The simplified diagram below shows the relationship between Users and Security Roles.
Where:
Security Role: Defines the collection of permissions and access levels a user or team has within the system. Example: Sales Manager Role, System Administrator Role
Table: A structured collection of data organized into rows and columns where each row represents a record. Example: Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities
Column: Represents a single attribute or field in a table, holding a specific value. Example: First Name, Phone Number, Email Address
Actions & Processes: A specific task or operation that can be performed in the system. Example: Exporting data to Excel, Printing
User or Team: A single person (user) or group of people (team) that can be assigned a Security Role. Example: Jim Smith or West Region Team
Diving a bit more into the specifics of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, a wide array of standard Security Roles come pre-configured and can easily be modified.
If needed, you can also create your own from scratch.
To get to Security Roles, navigate to the Power Platform Admin Center and select the appropriate environment. Then, navigate to your environment as shown below:
Click on Security Roles>See All to get a list of pre-configured security roles available inside that environment.
For example, you could click on the “Sales Manager” security role to see the individual permissions for that Role.
Then, within the Sales Manager Role, you can see the associated Create, Read, Write, Delete, Append, and Share permissions related to that specific table.
In addition to table permissions, each security role has additional privileges (miscellaneous privileges) for various actions a user may take.
Additional Data Loss Prevention (privacy-related privileges) may also be selected for each security Role.
Data Encryption
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, data encryption is a security measure that transforms your data into a coded format, making it unreadable to unauthorized individuals.
This ensures that sensitive information, such as customer details and financial records, remains protected both during storage and transmission. By implementing encryption, your business can safeguard confidential data, maintain customer trust, and comply with data protection regulations.
When considering data encryption, it's important to address two key aspects:
Data Encryption in Transit: This pertains to data protection as it moves across networks. Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM (CRM Online) inherently provides this security by operating exclusively over secure internet connections, as indicated by the "https://" prefix in its URL.
Data Encryption at Rest: This involves securing data while it is stored. Microsoft Dynamics 365 employs standard SQL Server cell-level encryption, which is automatically enabled for all new and upgraded instances. Notably, this encryption is always active and cannot be disabled, ensuring continuous protection of your stored data.
By addressing both in-transit and at-rest encryption, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM offers comprehensive data security to meet your business needs.
To find the settings for Data Encryption, go to the Power Platform Admin Center and select the appropriate environment.
Then go to Environments > Environment_Name>Settings and click “Encryption.” You will see a basic screen that allows you to override the Data Encryption Key, as shown below.
Since encryption is already enabled and functioning, there is typically no need to change anything to get encryption started.
However, if you find it necessary to update the key, be sure to carefully consider the two warnings shown in the screenshot above.
Data Masking
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, data masking is a security technique that conceals sensitive information by replacing it with fictitious but realistic data – often showing as “*” on a user’s screen.
This allows users to work with data that appears authentic without exposing actual confidential details.
For example, while an employee might assist a real customer with an account update, the system can mask the credit card number to ensure it remains secure and is not compromised.
By implementing data masking, your business can protect sensitive data, comply with privacy regulations, and reduce the risk of data breaches.
The setup for Data Masking is straightforward. First, go into your Power Platform development environment and update the properties of any new or existing field.
Here is a step-by-step process:
Login to Power Apps (https://make.powerapps.com)
Select the appropriate Environment
Create a new Solution (or use an existing one)
Add the appropriate Table to your Solution
Select that Table, then select “Columns”
Create a new Column or use an existing one
Under Advanced Options, click “Enable Column Security”
Select a default Masking rule or you can create your own with low-code RegEx (Regular Expression)
Place the field on a form
Publish your changes
The screenshot below shows what this might look like:
Once you have published your changes and refreshed your browser, navigate back to the CRM form with the new Masked field.
In our example, I added a Social Security Number field to the default Contact form, as shown below.
You will notice a Key icon next to the field, indicating this is a masked field.
When you initially enter the data, the masking is not applied.
Don’t worry; when you save and refresh the screen, you will see that the data is masked according to the selected masking pattern, as shown below.
Data Loss Prevention
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) refers to strategies and tools designed to prevent unauthorized access, sharing, or misuse of sensitive information.
By enforcing security policies, DLP ensures that confidential customer details and proprietary business information remain protected within your CRM system.
Implementing DLP helps maintain customer trust, ensures compliance with data protection regulations, and safeguards the organization's reputation.
It helps to prevent end users from accidentally or maliciously sharing data that could create organizational risks.
For Dynamics 365 CRM, DLP can be implemented with the additional configuration of your Security Roles (mentioned earlier under Access Control) and take the form of certain actions that a user may perform, such as:
Exporting Data
Mail Merging
Synchronization with Outlook
Printing
Goldilocks & Security: Finding the 'Just Right' Fit for Your Business
When it comes to securing your business data, it's essential to strike a balance between adequate protection and operational efficiency.
Not every company requires the highest level of security, akin to Fort Knox.
Instead, your security measures should align with your specific risk profile and business requirements.
Assessing Your Risk
Begin by evaluating the sensitivity of the data you handle.
If you don't store highly sensitive information like credit card numbers or Social Security numbers, your inherent risk is lower.
In such cases, avoid collecting unnecessary sensitive data to minimize exposure.
Conversely, if handling sensitive data is integral to your business, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM offers robust tools to store and protect this information securely.
Implementing Practical Measures
Adopt security practices that are necessary and proportionate to your identified risks.
Overly stringent measures can impede business processes, while insufficient security can leave you vulnerable.
A breach can disrupt operations and damage customer trust, so it's crucial to implement controls that protect your data without hindering productivity.
Balancing Cost and Benefit
Investing in security should be viewed through the lens of cost versus potential loss.
While implementing security measures incurs expenses, these are often outweighed by the costs associated with a data breach, including financial losses and reputational damage.
Therefore, it's prudent to allocate resources to security proactively rather than reactively.
Incorporating Agile Security Practices
In an agile business environment, security should evolve alongside your operations.
Regularly update your security protocols to address emerging threats and leverage new technologies.
Integrate security tasks into your agile sprints to ensure continuous improvement and responsiveness to the changing security landscape.
By customizing your security approach to fit your business's unique needs, you can protect your data effectively without unnecessary complexity or expense.
Wrapping Up: A Smarter, Safer Dynamics 365 CRM
This article provides a high-level overview of data security within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, tailored for business leaders.
While we've covered essential concepts, it's important to recognize that data security is a multifaceted and evolving field, often delving into technical complexities.
Our discussion serves as an introduction, acknowledging that there are deeper layers to explore.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM offers enterprise-grade security features designed to meet diverse business needs. We've highlighted the importance of data security in building customer trust, protecting business reputation, preventing financial losses, ensuring regulatory compliance, enhancing operational efficiency, and facilitating business growth.
Implementing robust data security measures is not just a technical requirement but a strategic imperative for sustained success.
Every business has unique security requirements.
Excessive security measures can hinder user productivity, while insufficient security can expose your business to risks, erode customer trust, and lead to financial repercussions.
Our Optrua Care Plan offers comprehensive Microsoft Dynamics 365 support services, encompassing all aspects of maintaining and enhancing data security within your CRM system.
By partnering with us, you can tailor your security approach to align with your specific needs, ensuring a balanced and effective strategy.
To learn more about how the Optrua Care Plan can support your business, please visit our Support & Maintenance page.
About the Author
Ryan Redmond is the founder of Optrua, specializing in CRM and business process optimization. Ryan channeled his passion for efficiency from lessons learned in the Navy to his work today.
He helps businesses streamline technology to improve employee and customer experiences and empower teams to work smarter, not harder, without unnecessary overhead.
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn.