Around 74% of users have some concerns about their private data shared on the Internet. They are wondering, where is the information they shared goes, where is it stored, and why companies gather it in the first place.
The users start to be more conscious about sharing their data and want to be sure that the companies they work with will be careful and responsible with it. At the same time, only 20% of companies can say that they are confident to say that their business is compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – the main data protection document in the EU.
GDPR is a regulation that came into effect on May 25, 2018. It applies to all companies that collect, process, and use data of users located in the EU and EEA region. Compliance with the GDPR is a main privacy protection rule you should be aware of.
According to GDPR, personal data is the name of a user, its financial and medical information, location details, social media updates, email, and IP address.
Since its establishment, GDPR changed a lot for businesses and how they function.
When you know what is GDPR and how it impacts businesses, you should know if your business has to be concerned with GDPR.
GDPR is the main data protection regulation in the EU, so you should understand that the consequences of not complying with it can be very serious. For instance, for the violation of the obligations of the controller or the processor, companies will be subject to a fine of 10 million euros or 2% of the firm’s global turnover.If the offence on compliance with basic principles for processing or data subject rights, is more serious, the fine is 20 million Euros or 4% of the firm’s global turnover.
Knowing the consequences of data privacy offences, it is much better to check your compliance with GDPR frequently, especially considering that the data privacy legislation can sometimes change.
GDPR makes it clear that users have to be aware of what data the company uses, so your Privacy Notice has to be up-to-date, clear, and transparent. Users have to be aware of what data the company collects, in which way, and for what purposes. It makes sense to update the document after every change in your collection processes and the privacy legislation.
After the GDPR became effective, data breach complaints increased to 160%. These worrisome statistics can be a consequence of unreliable internal processes. For instance, if you are unaware of the compliance to GDPR of one of your suppliers, it doesn’t make you less responsible if a data breach occurs.
Make sure that you know about privacy protection processes your third parties use and establish internal processes of the reaction in case of a data breach.
To make secure data processing inside your company, it would help the exact places where your data is stored and the paths it takes for the data to appear in your database. Look at your company’s departments and see how they are handling data processing. It won’t hurt to create clear guidelines for every department.
If you choose just one person in your company that will be in charge of data processing, you will save yourself time worrying about frequent checks and audits. The data processing officer in your company will be busy creating the guidelines for the departments, overseeing the changes in the legislation, and handling possible data breaches.
General Data Protection Regulation protects the privacy of users in the EU and creates rules that companies have to follow to secure this data. The companies that operate in the EU or use data of users that are residents of the EU have to be constantly aware of the inside data processing companies. Compliance with the GDPR is easy to check if you do it frequently and carefully, especially with the help of the data protection officer.
AVITAR helps companies to understand data protection processes and introduce them to their company. If you are unsure how to handle the data you collect and describe the processes in the right way in your Privacy Notice, you can always ask for professional help. At AVITAR, we will arrange a consultation with the specialist that will know where to start.
