Essential advice for data protection
Thursday 28 January is the 10th annual Data Protection Day. This year it is as relevant as ever with new regulations and cyber security set to be hot topics in 2016. There is plenty for organisations of all shapes and sizes to consider when it comes to protecting data and below is a collection of ideas on how they can do this.
Nigel Tozer, Solutions Marketing Director, EMEA, Commvault
“On European data protection day, companies will be reminded of the fact that they need to be working towards the new General Data Protection Regulations. The GDPR states that, after appointing a privacy officer, businesses need to identify and classify data so that they can put in place a breach notification policy. Their biggest challenge will be unstructured data. With structured data, in rows and columns, classification is an easier process, but unstructured data is far less easy to define because it’s distributed all over the place. It would be hard enough if the data were in one place, but unstructured data is disparate; scattered over endpoints, hard drives and the cloud. Technology that can automate policies to classify, organise, retain and delete information, based on is content, will ensure that business can move swiftly towards data protection (and compliance) in less time, with less stress and greater accuracy.”
Eve Maler, VP Innovation & Emerging Technology, ForgeRock
"What all organisations need to understand is that behind every online identity and digital profile is an actual human being. Today, many people have multiple digital identities or profiles that, when combined, includes almost all of their personal information. This includes everything from daily workout habits monitored by a connected device, to financial transactions and healthcare provider diagnoses.
Organisations should now start thinking about how to give their customers more control over their personal data in order to form trusted digital relationships. This is even more time-sensitive for U.S.-based enterprises and government organisations with ties to Europe. The European Parliament will soon enact the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires companies to give customers rights to better direct their privacy and data protection. What's more, the reform includes a clause that sets a high bar for individual consent: organisations must give customers the genuine and free choice to accept and approve or refuse and withdraw their consent of where their data will be shared without detriment."
Mark Edge, UK Country Manager, Brainloop
“Data Protection Day is the perfect opportunity for businesses to review the way they collect, classify, store, share and protect the personal data they possess. The way businesses store and share data has changed rapidly in the past decade and regulations are now catching up with the changes. Complying with these regulations will not only keep the personal data of your employees and customers safe, but also ensure that your business avoids the fines and reputation damage that could follow a data breach. There is a fine balance between giving access to sensitive data and documents to those who need to view it, but also keeping it hidden from those who don’t. Businesses can use a combination of education, simple and secure technical measures and security policies to ensure this balance is possible.”
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