Why it's vital to safeguard data
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European regulation designed to improve and unify the way that organisations operating across the EU collect, handle, process and store personal data such as HR records and customer lists. Among the requirements of the GDPR is the need for organisations to improve information security and governance.
In the UK, the requirements of the GDPR are enshrined in the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).
GDPR security requirements
Article 5
Personal data shall be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.
Article 32
The ability to ensure the ongoing confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of processing systems and services. A process for regularly testing, assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of technical and organisational measures for ensuring the security of data processing.
Article 33
Robust procedures in place to detect and investigate personal data breaches, as well as report them within 72 hours to a relevant authority.
Article 35
A Data Processing Impact Assessment (DPIA) of processing operations on the protection of personal data.
Data Protection
Who does the GDPR apply to and what data needs to be protected?
The GDPR places obligations on both data ‘controllers’ and ‘processors’. Data controllers are defined as those who determine the purpose and manner in which data is processed, while data processors are defined as any third party, such as a cloud service provider, that undertakes data processing on behalf of the data controller.
Personal data is defined as ‘any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person’. The GDPR expands the definition outlined in the DPA to also include online identifiers such as IP addresses and web cookies as well as biometric data such as fingerprints.
How to minimise your cyber security risk for GDPR compliance
By challenging your network defences and proactively seeking out threats, Cyber security services – including vulnerability assessments, penetration testing and managed threat detection and response – can help you to fulfil the information security and breach reporting requirements of the GDPR.
CSZone consultancy and services can help you prepare for GDPR compliance in the following ways:
- Improve resilience against cyber-attacks
- Rapidly detect and respond to malicious threats
- Report breaches within the stipulated 72 hours
- Understand and minimise security risks
- Enhance security policies and employee awareness
- Demonstrate good practice with Cyber Essentials
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Breach Reporting
Respond swiftly and effectively to breaches
To avoid a large GDPR fine, it’s vital that organisations have appropriate controls in place to detect personal data breaches and report them to the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours.
The covert nature of today’s attacks however means that organisations without proactive threat detection in place may struggle to identify attacks when they occur. Hackers can reside undetected on networks for months.