With just over a month to go, preparing for the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is important for every business. Full compliance with new data protection is required from the 25th May 2018. Knowing what GDPR is and how it will impact your business is important. This week our blog focuses on the regulation and how it impacts you.
At First Digital Media data protection has always been top of our list. With our help, you can make your business more compliant with new EU law.
What is GDPR?
GDPR is a result of EU discussions into data protection. Aiming to standardise legislation across the EU, the regulation is giving the consumer more control over their data. There are 3 key areas of the legislation that you should be aware of. These include data permission, data access, and data focus.
Data Permission refers to the consent that must be gained from a customer to store their personal data, as well as the right to be forgotten. This means that customers must ‘opt-in’ to external marketing such as newsletters and agree to how their data will be used. Customers also have a right to have their data removed if they are no longer a client.
Data Access requires companies to provide easy access to the personal data they hold about individuals. If a client contacts you about what personal data you store, you must be able to tell them what there is and explain why you hold it.
Data Focus means that you should always be transparent about the reasons behind the data you gather. If you are processing personal data, then there must be a legal justification behind it.
The regulation refers to a wide variety of data including:
- Names
- Addresses
- ID
- IP addresses
- Cookie data
- RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) Tags
- Health and genetic
- Biometric
- Racial and ethnic
- Political opinions
- Sexual orientation
Despite the UK leaving the European Union as of March 2019, the GDPR regulation will still be in place. For more information on GDPR, you can visit the European Union’s website here.
How You Can Prepare
Ensuring that your business is fully GDPR compliant does not have to be stressful. It can be difficult to understand the jargon and legal elements of the regulation, but there are a few steps you can take to prepare yourselves.
Conducting an audit of all data you hold lets you know what you have and what you need to do about it. Launching an email marketing campaign to re-establish consent from your clients is a great way of achieving written confirmation. This creates an easy paper trail and makes sure customers are receiving the content they want.
Updating any disclaimers and your terms and conditions is another must. This provides clients with the vital information they need.
If you need further information, then the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) are an ideal company to contact. They can guide you through the process and provide specific advice for your business.
How SSL Certification Impacts Your Website
Keeping your client’s data safe as a business is incredibly important. There are steps we can take to help prevent data from being accessed by unwanted sources. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a form of updated security which encrypts data between a web server and browser.
Every website should have SSL as it is the best form of protection out there against data thieves. The system uses HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) to protect the confidentiality and integrity of data between a customer and website. HTTPS can be easily spotted by a green padlock at the start of your website address in the search bar.
Having the certification can also improve your website’s rankings on Google. The search engine has let its public support for SSL be known. It has said that websites without SSL will be marked as insecure, enabling the visitor to see how secure their data is.
Contact Us
If you have any further questions about how GDPR will impact on you or your business, do not hesitate to get in contact with us. Our team are more than happy to help you prepare. Call us on 01524 544346 today or fill in our online contact form.
