The protection of data has never been more important for businesses. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of large-scale data breaches in the UK. These data breaches should be enough to make any business consider looking more closely at their security.
If your business stores or uses personal information, you need to follow and comply with the data protection rules. The data protection rules apply to information you store about customers, staff and account holders e.g. when you:
- Manage staff records
- Recruit staff
- Market products or services
- Install CCTV
Businesses need to make sure that any information that is collected is accurate, up-to-date and kept secure. They also need to inform the person whose data has been collected about how they’ll use the information and who they are.
But with compliance regulations like PCI, HIPAA and GDPR, to name but a few, are businesses ensuring that personal data is protected properly? All businesses need to be able to show that they comply with the data protection regulations. They can do this by ensuring that their policies are designed with data compliance in mind. Whether your business is large or small, here are some of our top tips for making sure your business complies with data protection in 2020:
1. Conduct an Audit
The first thing most businesses will need to do is conduct a business-wide audit of the data they collect in order to find out what data they currently hold, where this data is stored, what they use the data for and who they share the data with. They also need to look into how the rights of their customers and employees are enforced. All of the information you collect during the audit should be recorded in a record of processing.
2. Review Procedures
Businesses need to ensure that they review their technology, policies and procedures on a regular basis so that they can make sure that they comply with the data protection regulations. This is often a daunting task for business owners and it often requires a lot of time and hard work. One way you can do this without the worry is by outsourcing this role to a qualified IT support team. IT support teams will ensure that all of your policies and procedures are kept up to date so that you don’t have to.
Impreza IT provides IT Support in Kent and other areas of the UK. They take the role of protecting your data and security extremely seriously so you can relax in the knowledge that they’ve got everything in place for you.
3. Know the Requirements
There are a number of compliance regulations that businesses in the UK are expected to meet. Depending on the location of your business and the nature of your business, the government will impose a number of strict data-protection rules for you to follow. You will have to find out what the regulations are for your industry and location.
4. Identify Vulnerabilities
Approximately 67% of all businesses in the UK worry that their business will fall victim to a cyber attack or data breach. But there are some ways you can protect yourself from this including:
- Security and passwords – One of the best ways to protect your business against cybercrime and a data protection breach is to create strong passwords and change them on a regular basis.
- Data tracking and backup – businesses should be able to restore files to their original state and should test this practise on a regular basis.
- Spot data breaches – If you look into the portfolios of large companies around the world you will see that they have lost billions of pounds from data breaches. Many small companies have had to close their doors because they failed to follow the data protection rules properly. Protecting data may sound simple, but it’s often harder than it sounds. But, if you spot problems as soon as they occur, you’ll be able to put measures in place to stop them from happening again.
5. Use Secured Internet
Many new business owners forget the importance of protecting themselves from cyber attacks and data breaches. But, protecting your company from data breaches is extremely important if you want to be successful and you want your company to maintain a good image. One way you can protect yourself is by making sure your internet and network is secure. If you look into the most successful companies in the world, then you’ll notice that almost all of them are using a VPN to protect their data. A VPN can be used to encrypt data. Reinforcing your internet security will help you to comply with data protection in 2020.
Data protection is one of the main factors that ensures a business’s growth and success. In order to operate your business in 2020 you’ll need to make sure that you’re meeting the compliance requirements put in place by the government.
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