Data protection commissioner inspection. Are you ready?

Date December 22, 2009

Legal requirements regarding the data you hold and how you should manage it are not new.

Neither is the Data Protection act (PDF) which outlines the requirements and in effect your responsibilities. The powers of the Data protection commissioner and more to the point the likelihood of inspection have however increased.

This was demonstrated by Prime time media coverage in 2006 regarding alleged breaches. Random inspections have already commenced and are likely to increase in both volume and scope. If you don’t know weather or not you are compliant then you most likely are not.

While effective backup is only one area which needs to be addressed, it is however a major step in the right
direction. It is also an easy one to fall down on. Putting a staff member in charge of data backup is commonly
perceived to be the solution. This is in effect the opposite of automation. Online backup is an obvious choice for outsourcing given that you require the data outside of your company. To do this securely requires the use of specialist systems which for a one small business could be cost ineffective. Backup online with Carbonite you avail of the following:

  • Data protection Highest level of encryption in the USA market.
  • Data retention Longest retention period in the USA market.
  • Data availability 99.9% uptime. (independently verified by Internet seer)
  • Data reporting Per backup detailed report.
  • Data Automation Fully automated system.
  • Data support Direct client to technician support.

If you avail of the above, the Data Protection Act should become a positive for your business. The spirit of the act is to protect consumer and client data. The effect of compliance is to protect you.

Regardless of your business and indeed regardless of the data protection act, the absence of effective data
management or the presence of poor procedures poses dangerous and unnecessary risks. The relatively recent and sudden move to online backup has resulted in a broad spectrum of companies availing of previously unattainable data security. There are also those who are left behind. If it is rude to ask which group you belong to it would be prudent to do something about it.

Category Posted in Carbonite, WhitePapers

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