The Importance of Data Protection
We all have personal details that we don’t want anyone
else to access. These days there is so much information out there, particularly
since the rise of the internet that great care needs to be taken to protect
personal information and other data. Customer privacy is, or should be a
priority for most businesses, which is why they take care to ensure that
personal information and things like new product data are protected.
Even government employees have fallen foul of the data
protection act, evidenced by news stories of usbs and laptops full of private
details, lost or left on trains. It is all too easy for such data to be
accessed by people with bad intentions, e.g. the rise in identity theft.
Consequences of Data Loss
A great number of organisations now hold people’s
personal data, including their financial details. Those companies and
government departments that fail to take sufficient care of personal data could
find that they incur serious financial loss.
Industrial espionage is a real problem in some areas,
companies want to hide their research and new product details from their
competitors. If the data on company information is not properly secured, they
could find that their ideas and research have been used by their competitors –
this is worse when the perpetrators pass the ideas off as their own.
Loss and theft of private company data can involve the
owners of both companies in an expensive legal wrangle. All companies and
government departments have a duty to make their staff aware of the importance
of data and privacy laws.
Keeping Data Safe
There are procedures that can be put in place to
prevent instances of data theft and loss. Neither government employees nor
company staff members should take laptops and data sticks away from the office
without some kind of guarantee that the information will be safeguarded.
Company and personal data should only be viewed by
those with the right level of seniority. One of the ways institutions can
restrict access to important data is through the use of particular computer
passwords.
Institutions need to invest in good internet security
systems. The rise of the internet has had many beneficial effects for most of
us; the downside is that there are all too many people out there who will try
to access data that they have no right to. Anti-spyware and other computer
security software are a must for anyone storing personal and financial details.
Data loss can seriously affect a company or
department’s reputation, especially if the press get hold of it. Hard copies of
private data should be kept safe, either on site or with one of a growing
number of secure data and document storage companies. Institutions should have
some form of insurance against data theft and loss if they don’t want to have
to pay out many thousands of pounds in compensation.
Written by Crispin Jones for QT&C:
The Information Assurance Experts.
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