GDPR for Memberships We work with a lot of membership organisations and they have some unique challenges around GDPR, from those which are based internationally and how to manage the data of UK and EU individuals as opposed to the rest of the world members to those organisations which are linked to a professional body. Some of the challenges faced by memberships are: Contact preferences - This is especially difficult to assign contact preferences [...]
GDPR for Small Businesses: What You Need to Know As a small business owner, you will have heard about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) but perhaps you aren't quite sure what it means for your company. The GDPR is a set of data protection rules designed to give individuals more control over their personal information and ensure that organisations handle that information responsibly. While the GDPR was introduced in the European Union, it [...]
The Benefits of Data Audits: Ensuring Security and Compliance for Small Businesses As a small business, you may have heard about Data Audits and may wonder what benefits it can bring to your organisation. Let's delve into why completing a data audit is a crucial step towards enhancing your data security and achieving compliance with regulations like GDPR. Understanding Data Audits What is a Data Audit? A data audit is a record of the [...]
Navigating Charities, Cyber Incidents, and Best Practices For charitable organisations, the aim to make a positive impact on society often takes centre stage and the majority of resources. However, amidst the endeavors of charities lies a growing concern—cyber incidents. A statistic produced by the UK government this week shows that 66% of charities, with income over £500k, have suffered a cyber incident in the last year. The digital landscape presents both opportunities for outreach [...]
As a business owner, you're well aware of the importance of GDPR compliance and information security. However, maintaining awareness among your staff can be a challenge. It needs to be something that is memorable, educational, cost effective and engaging, not a short list! I have set out below some different activities you could try to help raise awareness effectively. 1. Regular Training Sessions One of the most effective ways to instill good data protection [...]
As a small business owner, you may be juggling multiple hats and responsibilities. Among these, ensuring the security and integrity of your business's data, especially under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is crucial. Ongoing awareness activities support increased knowledge and reduce the risk of data breaches and can not only enhance your business's data protection practices but provide a host of additional benefits too. 1. Ensuring Compliance with GDPR GDPR compliance is not [...]
As a small business owner, you understand that your data is one of your most valuable assets. It's the lifeblood of your operations, key to your growth strategy, and often, the base to build relationships with customers. But in an increasingly digital world, this data is under relentless attack. That's where cyber security steps in. Cyber security is not just a buzzword. It's a necessity for businesses of all sizes, especially for small businesses [...]
Many small business owners think they are too small to be a target for cyber criminals, the truth is that companies of all sizes face major risks when it comes to data breaches and lack of information security procedures. Failure to properly secure customer data can result in severe penalties, legal liability, and a devastating loss of customer trust. The Devastating Impact for One Small Retailer We took a call this week from a [...]
Pseudo-anonymisation vs Anonymisation: What's the Difference? is a question we were asked this week. When handling personal data, there are two main methods for de-identifying individuals - pseudo-anonymisation and anonymisation. But what exactly do these terms mean and how do they differ? Pseudo-anonymisation refers to replacing direct identifiers (like names) with indirect ones (like numbers). So in a pseudo-anonymised list, each individual is still assigned a unique code but this can be mapped back [...]
"How long should I keep staff records?" is a frequent question we get asked. The answer is not straightforward as you have to consider current staff and previous staff and the type of records that are being maintained. Data Protection Legislation, including GDPR, sets out that you should not retain information for longer than necessary but you also need to consider the prospect of a legal or insurance claim and therefore retain the documents [...]
Market Research and Working Internationally - Security Questionnaires When a small market research agency is looking to work with large multinational corporations, one of the hurdles you may encounter is completing their procurement and security questionnaires for third party vendors. These detailed questionnaires allow corporations to assess potential vendors, partners, and agencies across areas like data security, privacy practices, and more. When working with large corporates who have dedicated legal and procurement teams, these [...]
In discussions about information security and data protection, the notion of password protection often arises as a perceived safeguard. However, the efficiency of this method hinges on the nature and complexity of the password being used and the sensitivity of the information being protected. Distinguishing between encryption and password protection is crucial. Imagine your data as valuables stored within a secure box. Password protection means locking this box with a password; the password is [...]
Sending an email to the wrong person is one of the most common data breaches. It’s also usually down to human error, usually because someone is time pressured or trying to do more than one thing at once or not familiar with the software. This happened to one of my clients the other day, they rang me to say they had sent a report about one of their clients to one of their other [...]
"What is the difference between GDPR and Data Protection?" is a questions I asked the other day. It can be very confusing as we use the term GDPR regularly to describe a piece a legislation we need to adhere to. GDPR stands for the General Data Protection Regulation. It’s the European wide legislation brought in in 2018, that created a tsunami of changes to the way businesses collect, store and destroy personal information. In [...]
Procurement, due diligence or security questionnaires, whatever you want to call them are becoming far more common and businesses we work with, who haven't had them before, are starting to get them. We work quite widely in the security sector and they have started getting them from other companies that they work with. Generally, the questionnaires are based on the International Standard ISO27001. The questions can be phrased strangely and be difficult to understand [...]
Let me tell you about a recent incident with one of our clients. So, they had a bit of a hiccup and this led to a data breach. But it was a small data breach, with one person’s information incorrectly shared with another individual. Apparently, someone accidentally emailed the information to the wrong person. A common mistake. But when we sat down to discuss what had happened, they were ready to overhaul their entire [...]
Special category data is personal information that needs more protection because it is considered sensitive under data protection legislation. There are nine special categories of personal information. They are information that relates to: - race, racial and ethnic origin; - political opinions; - religious or philosophical beliefs; - trade union membership; - genetic data; - biometric data such as fingerprints, eye scanners, but only where it's being used for identification purposes; - health information; [...]
What is your password policy and is it effective? Frequent password changes are one of the things many organisations advocate and actively manage by expiring a password so that it has to be replaced. We are helping a client obtain Cyber Essentials Certification and have been looking at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) website, which has a different viewpoint on passwords. Password changes are designed to limit the harm that comes from an [...]
What is processing explained simply.
This week through the helpline, we had a call from a company who had used legitimate interests to scrape email addresses from the web, and then send them marketing information. They explained that marketing emails were in their interests and the interests of the person emailed so they could place their services and goods on the caller’s platform for sale. There are very specific rules about email marketing both in data Protection legislation and [...]