- June 12, 2023
- Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
What is data protection?
Today, data breaches pose a significant threat, with businesses often bearing the most through identity theft and fraudulent activities. Data protection is critical, and certain types of data require more stringent security measures. To handle these challenges, businesses can implement robust security strategies such as authentication and encryption.
With Smartape as your trusted partner, you can confidently safeguard your valuable information against unauthorised access and potential threats.
What kind of data must be secured?
All information, including names, addresses, financial details, and transaction history, must be kept secure at all times. But special attention must be paid to sensitive data like social security numbers, medical records, and cardholder data. This information can be used for identity theft and fraud, making it crucial to protect.
Policies and regulations for data protection
Every business should comply with local and international data protection laws. In the UK, this includes the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
These establish the seven key principles for data protection that every business should observe:
- Lawfulness, fairness and transparency: Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.
- Purpose limitation: Personal data must be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes.
- Data minimisation: Personal data must be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed.
- Accuracy: Personal data must be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date. Every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate are either erased or rectified without delay.
- Storage limitation: Personal data must be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed.
- Integrity and confidentiality (security): Personal data must 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.
- Accountability: The controller is responsible for, and must be able to demonstrate, compliance with the other principles.
How do I protect my data?
Modern businesses often rely heavily on cloud-based software applications for their day-to-day operations. These applications offer tremendous benefits in terms of scalability, accessibility, and efficiency. However, they also pose unique challenges when it comes to securing sensitive data. Hence, the importance of employing advanced security technologies tailored towards cloud software applications cannot be overstated.
Cloud Computing, as a technology, serves as the backbone of these applications. It not only provides a robust, scalable, and flexible platform for deploying these applications but also equips businesses with the necessary tools to secure them. Features such as encrypted data storage, secure transmission protocols, robust access controls, and real-time security monitoring make cloud platforms an ideal environment for hosting sensitive data.
Encryption is crucial for cloud software applications. When data is stored in the cloud or transmitted over the internet, it’s vulnerable to interception. Encryption converts this data into a form that’s unreadable without the correct decryption key. Modern cloud software applications often use robust encryption algorithms both for data at rest and in transit, providing a secure environment for your sensitive data.
Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is another critical security feature. MFA requires users to verify their identities using multiple evidence types before gaining access to the data. By utilising MFA, you can add an extra layer of security, ensuring that even if a password gets compromised, your data remains secure.
Lastly, cloud software applications often come with built-in firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus capabilities. These security features help detect and mitigate potential cyber threats, ensuring your data remains safe from unauthorized access, theft, and corruption. They continuously monitor the system for any suspicious activities, providing real-time alerts, and allowing you to respond rapidly to any potential breaches.
FAQ
Protecting your data is crucial to maintain trust with clients, ensure regulatory compliance, and prevent financial loss from data breaches.
Secure data through encryption, using cloud computing for secure storage, enforcing strong access controls, and maintaining up-to-date software and systems. Contact us to learn more.
Business data protection involves safeguarding company and customer data from unauthorised access, loss, or theft. It includes data security measures, policies, and regulations to ensure data privacy.
Data protection includes practices like encryption, two-factor authentication, secure cloud storage, and adherence to data protection laws like GDPR.
The 5 golden rules include: collect only what’s necessary, ensure data is accurate and up-to-date, don’t store data longer than needed, secure stored data, and ensure data is processed lawfully and transparently.
