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As a UK business owner, one of your primary legal obligations is to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR is an essential piece of data protection law and sets rules on data collection and storage. This article will explore three significant reasons your business can benefit from following GDPR rules and why doing so is worth the time and financial investment.
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
The UK Government formed the ICO to act as an independent body with one primary objective: to help and encourage UK organisations to comply with the GDPR.
In this article, we will focus on the first point. The ICO’s online guidance has been of great help to many UK businesses, as we will now explore below.
1. Avoids Risk of ICO Investigations and Fines
One of the primary purposes of the ICO publishing helpful guidance on its website is to help businesses avoid enforcement action through good practice. The ICO’s usual enforcement action is to provide UK organisations with written warnings or a hefty financial penalty when a GDPR breach is serious.
The ICO can hand down fines of up to £17.5m to UK businesses. This has put the organisation on the radar of many business owners.
Moreover, the ICO believes that UK organisations have no excuse regarding GDPR violations given that they publish such a wide range of GDPR guidance on their website.
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2. Less Expenditure on Data Storage Methods
One of the main principles of the GDPR is that UK businesses should only collect personal information when necessary and only for as long as it remains functional. In this way, your company should avoid storing excessive personal information.
3. Reduces Risk of Cyber-Attacks
The digital age means most business occurs on electronic systems. Although advantageous in terms of speed and convenience, it also exposes your business to the ever-increasing risk of cyber-attacks.
In recent years, cyber-attacks on businesses have become more sophisticated and commonplace. It is common for companies to experience several attempted cyber intrusions daily, whether through:
- phishing emails;
- computer viruses; or
- vulnerability attacks on your website.
The main types of cyber-attack include:
- ransomware software which locks you out of your system until you make a payment; or
- security breach which aims to steal personal information.
If your business suffers a cyber-attack, it should:
- notify the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of the attack;
- take all reasonable measures to stop the cyber-attack; and
- notify individuals if their data has been stolen.
Upon receipt of your notification (known as self-reporting), the ICO will likely investigate whether your business could have done more to prevent the attack. If so, it may consider imposing a fine against your company.
Fortunately, the ICO publishes guides on good cyber practice (as do the National Cyber Security Centre), which should help your organisation put good cyber defenses in place. Given their evolving and ever-changing nature, new guidance is commonplace concerning cyber-attacks.
Key Takeaways
The GDPR is a complex piece of legislation. Fortunately, the ICO understands this and aims to assist UK organisations by providing easy-to-understand online guidance on information rights and data privacy. Many business owners review the ICO’s online guidance and ask expert lawyers to draft their data protection policies and procedures.
If you need help ensuring your business complies with the GDPR, our experienced Data, Privacy and IT lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
The main reason for the substantial fines is that the ICO believes its website provides UK businesses with enough information to comply with GDPR rules. Therefore, if UK companies fail to take advantage of online guidance and this harms individuals, they should suffer a financial penalty.
Because one of the primary purposes of the GDPR is to protect personal data. Personal information, including health information, is very sensitive to UK citizens and, accordingly, requires secure protection.
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