CLM for Cybersecurity: How Contract Management Helps Protect Your Business

Every business is at risk of a cybersecurity attack, even yours. 

Big businesses are targeted most frequently, and they are who we see in the news when there’s a breach. But even a small company with a double-digit headcount faces cybersecurity risks, especially if you don’t have a contract management process in place.

Why? Cybersecurity criminals are after data. Contracts are paydirt because they hold some of your company's most valuable pieces of data. And if you don’t have an existing contract management process or solution, then your risk level is even higher than you think.

How Does CLM Help With Cybersecurity?

The more popular types of cybersecurity risks include ransomware, malware, and a good old-fashioned data breach. Attackers want data: data they can sell to the highest bidder, ransom back to your company, or leverage to get more data. 

When your contracts are scattered on desktops or in emails, it’s easy for bad actors to access and steal your data. This can lead to fines for non-compliance, blemish your reputation, and, if you’re a public company, cause your stock value to plummet.

With consumer awareness of data security at an all-time high, there is a premium on privacy. Companies that can’t meet the standard face financial damage and legal action.

A contract management solution can help mitigate those risks in a few ways.

By Centralizing Contract Data

When your contracts live in multiple digital locations with little to no security around them, it’s relatively simple for a sophisticated hacker to access them. Phishing is one example of a scam used to get into your computer files and grab the contracts on your hard drive.

Contract management solutions centralize your contract data into a single location. Storing them in one place closes off multiple avenues of unauthorized access, making it harder for cybercriminals to break in and steal your contract data.

By Limiting User Access And Permissions

Contract management solutions limit the number of people who can access your contract database. If everyone had access to every contract, it wouldn’t be different from storing random contracts on various devices. 

Using CLM as part of your cybersecurity strategy, you can limit user permissions so that only a small fraction of your workforce can access it. And those that do have that access will have specific roles and limitations regarding when and how they can access that data. Even when you trust all your employees, it’s better to air on the side of caution and only give access where and when it’s absolutely necessary.

By Encrypting Data

Whereas contracts on your desktop are in plain language and can be easily read and deduced by any layperson, a good contract management system encrypts the data so that it isn’t easily read. 

The best systems encrypt this data in both rest and transit, so even as you send a contract back and forth for negotiation and signing, it’s difficult for malicious parties to intercept.

By Maintaining SOC 2 Compliance

SOC 2 is a compliance standard that outlines how participating businesses and organizations should govern user data. By the very nature of complying with this standard, your CLM provider follows more stringent security practices. 

Of course, not every company implements SOC 2 protocols, especially smaller ones, so you should check to see if they are compliant. But if they are, they are more likely to protect sensitive customer sensitive data in a way that defends against breaches. It’s one of your best bets against a bad faith actor.

In Summary 

One of your best protections against cybersecurity attacks is using contract lifecycle management software. The best kinds of CLM in terms of cybersecurity are built with privacy and data security in mind. They undergo continuous security testing of all types to ensure that your data is in good hands. A CLM solution, such as LinkSquares, centralizes and encrypts data and limits user permission to restrict widespread access to valuable data that hostile individuals seek out.

Learn more about the value of LinkSquares as part of your cybersecurity strategy. Request a demo today.