https://www.xperience-group.com/news-item/gdpr-for-it-managers/
Has GDPR taken over your life? Is compliance and risk management on top of your agenda? Do you wonder how to connect GDPR compliance with the strategic priorities of your organisation?
With the increased pressure to ensure GDPR compliance, many companies experienced a huge drain of resources. IT departments have been diverted from focusing on using technology to improve productivity, to compliance at a time when digital transformation and competitive advantage have never been more important.
So, how can you kill two birds with one stone? Using technology to ensure both on-going adherence to new regulations and business agility?
Your journey to comply with GDPR can open new doors to transform your organisation into a modern and agile business. It can be an opportunity to review your data to make sure you’ve got the security tools in place to protect it – especially in the light of rising cyber-crime. You don’t want to be the next Carphone Warehouse, do you? Also, there is a possibility that hackers may use the regulation as leverage to receive ransom. All this to take into consideration – but where to start?
In preparation for GDPR, the ICO recommended that you identify where your business stores personal data and review each component to ensure security. Regardless of whether you’re digital or paper-based, you must be transparent about your data policies, ensuring you are adhering to best practice when it comes to securing data.
Top Tip: Even after the deadline has passed, secure data collection, storage and usage of personal information is merely the first step – on-going maintenance and monitoring is no less critical now.
In the recent years, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trends have boomed, with many companies building a strong mobile workforce. There is no doubt that remote working opens up a whole new set of challenges to address around data security, in the light of GDPR. Have you ensured compliance when employees access data out of the office?
Top Tip: Encryption is one of the most effective ways of achieving and demonstrating EU GDPR compliance, making your data unreadable for anyone without proper authorisation. With cloud, you can even remotely wipe data from lost devices so that it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.
5 advantages of cloud computing >>>
No matter what technology and processes you have in place, there is always the possibility of a data breach. As an IT Manager, your responsibility is to stop its progress and communicate internally, to the data subjects and to the authorities when and how the incident occurred, the amount of data potentially lost, and the mechanism used to exfiltrate the data.
Top Tip: Document processes in place regarding responding to a personal data breach. This should include:
There are products available that can help you with key elements of GDPR compliance, such as data management and security. From system patching and vulnerability management to data deduplication and encryption, there is an array of tools available for you to choose from.
Top Tip: Don’t forget about human error – the weakest cybersecurity link. Education is key to building a culture of security and once staff are skilled on the security risks – it’s a big compliance tick where GDPR is concerned.
GDPR: Is Employee Data Security Training Essential? >>>
As we discussed here, the arrival of GDPR, is likely to increase security risks because hackers may use the regulation as leverage to receive ransom, with many companies preferring a payoff instead of GDPR fines.
Top Tip: An improved approach to security and compliance management, can give your organisations the security it needs to protect data and their reputation. So brush up on ransomware prevention tools to outsmart those hackers.