Our Zero Data Hero Customer Spotlight series highlights the stories of VGS customers who have joined our Zero Data mission to protect the world’s information.
Tell us about HC3?
Griffin - HC3 helps financial services firms and healthcare companies communicate with their customers, both in print and online. Banks and credit unions, for example, ask us to design and deliver several types of physical and digital documents, most of which are account statements or other financial documents, such as invoices or loan statements.
How did HC3 approach the challenge of data security?
Griffin - The nature of the business we’re in means that we have a lot of sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) coming through our facility every day. We wanted to keep ourselves out of scope for a couple specific pieces of PII that we didn’t want to store ourselves, notably Social Security Numbers and 16-digit card numbers. Our desire to descope from that particular sensitive data was what initially led us to contact VGS.
What does Zero Data mean to you?
Griffin - HC3 is constantly striving to reduce the scope of PII that we collect and store, which our relationship with VGS enables us to do. For us, however, Zero Data is more of an ideal to strive for rather than a practical goal. This is simply because the work we do for our customers makes Zero Data in the literal sense somewhat unrealistic, at least for the time being.
How has VGS helped HC3?
Griffin - VGS has helped us work with our customers’ sensitive data without having to actually possess any of the original data ourselves. For one of our clients, as an example, we help them store and present documents that need to be identified by SSN and/or credit card number. With VGS, we are able to tokenize and alias those sensitive numbers and provide the end-users with access, all without storing any of the data ourselves.
How do you quantify the benefit of VGS?
The benefit of VGS is all about peace of mind. It’s resting assured that we’re not holding credit card numbers or social security numbers in web-facing systems or on any machines here. There’s unquantifiable value in knowing that we’re not taking that risk.
Any advice for other startups who are beginning security and compliance journey?
Griffin - I think Zero Data, as an idea, makes perfect sense: don’t hold any PI that carries risk and pursue a workflow that keeps it that way. For startups, I would always say to start from Zero Data as an endpoint. Due to the nature of our business, we can’t start at Zero Data. But, for a startup working from the ground up, it’s the right way to go.
Who is your favorite superhero and why?
Griffin - I wasn’t a big superhero fan, but I would say Mr. Incredible if I had to choose. Even though he’s middle-aged and questioning the value he brings to society in the new normal he’s facing, he’s still got it - and that eventually rises to the surface.
How can people sign up with HC3?
Griffin - We primarily work with US-based banks and credit unions who are interested in modernizing their customer communications to give their users a consistent experience across all channels. Businesses that would like to streamline their customer communications can contact us at info@hc3.io or 877-838-2345.
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