Guide to effective data protection

Protection of data

Today, data has in many ways become the backbone of most companies. Unfortunately, IT security has come under increasing pressure from several sides; new technology, war, etc. Data protection has become one of the most central challenges for large parts of business life. It is not just about protecting sensitive personal data, but also about securing all kinds of data. But data protection is complicated for several reasons; it reaches into many parts of a business, plus the fact that what was safe yesterday is not necessarily safe today.

In this blog I will explore why data protection is important, what aspects to focus on how to effectively protect data and how software can be an important ally in this process.

Did you know that rapid response to data breaches can minimise long-term damages and costs associated with customer churn and lost trust?

(www.ponemon.org)

Why data protection is important

Data protection is important for several reasons:

Confidentiality: For businesses, data protection is critical to protect trade secrets, sensitive information and intellectual property. Misuse or leakage of this information can have serious consequences, including financial loss and reputational damage.
Privacy: Data protection is essential to ensure the individual’s right to privacy. When processing personal information, it is important to respect and protect the confidentiality of that information to prevent misuse or unauthorised access.
Compliance: Many countries have legislation in place that requires the protection of personal information and punishes breaches of data protection rules. Complying with these laws is not only a legal requirement, but also an ethical obligation.
Trust: By demonstrating commitment to data protection, companies build trust with their customers, partners and stakeholders. Trust is essential for maintaining successful relationships and long-term business partnerships.
Cybercrime Protection: With the ever-growing threat of cybercrime, effective data protection is essential to prevent data theft, ransomware attacks, and other types of cyberattacks that can harm businesses and individuals.

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Legislation affecting data protection

Legislation that impact data protection in the UK are amongst other:

United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR): British regulation ensuring data protection and privacy rights for individuals within the UK, setting stringent requirements for data processing and privacy protection. If you process data on citizens within EU or EEA, then you should look to GDPR.
Data Protection Act: Incorporates GDPR into UK law and includes additional provisions for data processing within the UK.
Network and Information Systems Regulations (NIS2): Aims to enhance the security and resilience of network and information systems in specified sectors. These laws provide the framework for how businesses in the UK must handle cybersecurity and protect personal data, ensuring compliance with data regulations.

These laws provide the main framework for how businesses in the UK must handle cybersecurity and protect personal data, ensuring compliance with data regulations.

How you protect data

Data protection concerns many areas of a company, including the organisation, work processes, and data handling:

Data storage: Choose the right storage method
Data management: Implement a best practise approach to manage data
Data collection: Efficient and secure data collection
Data hygiene: Data handling requires data hygiene
Data access control: Make sure to setup data access control
Remote work: Protect data when employees work remotely
Cloud data: Understand the benefits and risks of cloud storage
Cloud migration: Clean up before moving your data to the cloud
Data confidentiality: Maintain the confidentiality of your data
Structured data: Learn the difference to structured data compared to unstructured data
Data visualisation: Get value out of the way you present data
Data mapping: Gain an overview of your data and protect it with data mapping
Data discovery: Find and protect specific files with data discovery
Data controller: Discover the difference between data processor and data controller

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Sensitive data can tends to accumulate in the employees' e-mails. With a GDPR Risk Scan from DataMapper, you get a report that shows any potential GDPR risks in the company's e-mails.

How we can help protect data

Data protection is an ongoing process that can be partially remedied via software. At Safe Online, we have created three tools to protect data that contains sensitive information:

DataMapper – Find your sensitive data
ShareSimple – Send and receive data securely in Outlook
RequestManager – Process data subject requests easily