One of the quickest ways that any business can lose their customers is by not protecting their data. With online sales rising and increasing amounts of small businesses harnessing the internet to make sales the risk of losing customer data or having it stolen is higher than ever.

The recent news that staff at mobile phone company T-Mobile passed on millions of records from thousands of customers to third party brokers is a reminder to all businesses to ensure that they have sufficient controls over customer data.

T-Mobile bosses are claiming that the data was sold by staff without their knowledge, in a data breach that is the biggest of its kind in history.

It is a business essential to implement sufficient data controls; staff should not be able to access this information. While all staff may appear to be happy in your firm at the moment, it has been revealed that the majority of data theft comes from inside an organisation.

Don't put your business and customer data at risk by allowing a disgruntled employee, or even a member of staff out to make some extra cash, to access and sell your customer data.

Recent comments from Justice Minister Michael Wills that the government was looking at bringing in tougher penalties to deter the illegal trade in personal information may act as an deterrent. But no new laws on data theft have been passed yet, so it is up to all small business owners to ensure that they have adequate measures in place.