Which of the following represents a best practice for protecting sensitive financial information?

• A. Implement access controls, encryption, secure backups, and policies for handling sensitive information
• B. Openly share all data with the public
• C. Use simple passwords
• D. Disable backups

Answer: (A)

Protecting sensitive financial information relies on layered protections that limit who can access data, protect it wherever it lives, and ensure it can be recovered if something goes wrong. Implementing access controls ensures that only authorized staff can view or modify the data, enforcing the principle of least privilege. Encryption keeps data secure both when it’s stored (at rest) and when it’s transmitted (in transit), so even if a device is lost or a transmission is intercepted, the information remains unreadable. Secure backups are essential to guard against data loss from hardware failures, disasters, or malware like ransomware, and they enable reliable recovery. Policies for handling sensitive information create consistent rules for how data is stored, shared, retained, and disposed of, and they support training so everyone follows the same safe practices. When you combine these elements, you build a robust, defense-in-depth approach to protecting financial data.

Openly sharing data defeats confidentiality; using simple passwords weakens authentication; and disabling backups risks irreversible data loss and noncompliance.