Short answer: Effective data protection is about more than just IT security – it requires a clear understanding of what personal data your organisation holds and how it is processed. This blog guides you through key principles such as data minimisation, access control, and risk assessment. With the right tools and processes, businesses can strengthen GDPR compliance and build trust with both customers and employees.
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.
Why is data protection 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.
- 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.
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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.
FAQ on data protection
1. What is data protection?
Data protection is about ensuring that personal data is processed lawfully, securely, and responsibly – in line with the GDPR and other relevant legislation.
2. What types of data are covered by data protection?
All personal data – meaning any information that can be linked to an individual – such as name, email address, national ID number, health information, and IP addresses.
3. What’s the difference between data security and data protection?
Data security focuses on preventing unauthorised access and data loss, while data protection also covers legal and ethical aspects such as consent and purpose limitation.
4. Who is responsible for data protection in a company?
Management holds the overall responsibility, but every employee plays a role in handling personal data correctly in their daily work.
5. How can data protection be improved?
By mapping personal data (data mapping), implementing access controls, ensuring valid consent, and using tools like DataMapper to identify and protect sensitive information.
Learn more on how to 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
- Data confidentiality: Maintain the confidentiality of your data
- Structured data: Learn the difference to structured data compared to unstructured 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
Start your privacy cleanup with the big picture
A GDPR Risk report gives you a complete overview of the privacy risk in your company. The report is based on a scan with DataMapper.
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
Sebastian Allerelli
Founder & COO at Safe Online
Sebastian is the co-founder and COO of Safe Online, where he focuses on automating processes and developing innovative solutions within data protection and compliance. With a background from Copenhagen Business Academy and experience within identity and access management, he has a keen understanding of GDPR and data security. As a writer on Safe Online's Knowledge Hub, Sebastian shares his expertise through practical advice and in-depth analysis that help companies navigate the complex GDPR landscape. His posts combine technical insight with business understanding and provide concrete solutions for effective compliance.
