Hi,

Welcome back to our series of posts on security.

One of the biggest initiatives our data security experts feel will impact UK companies this year is the introduction of the new EU Data Protection Regulation. before writing this article I had heard the name, but had no idea how it would effect me; so I asked our director Mark who is an expert when it comes to Security Best Practise:

What is it?

This regulation will bring in line 28 EU states with regard to protecting data. It will replace the previous European Data Directive, notice it changes from “Directive” to “Regulation” this means it is much more enforceable which will be achieved in the way of fines and increased penalties for non-compliance. The last time Data Protection Law was updated was in 1995 – yes it is that old in the days we had “Sony Walkmans” and “floppy Disks” and people rarely had mobile phones. It is scheduled for 2017 so you still have time to prepare. If you are not sure where to start read the below “Computer Weekly” article:http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Security-Think-Tank-What-should-UK-business-do-to-prepare-for-new-EU-data-protection-rules-part1You cannot ignore this new law, if you start now it will be so much easier and if you already have Cyber Essentials in place then you have made a good start! Good Luck.

This nicely simplified version of the new directive definitely met with the approval of one of our top data security engineers Adam, who commented:

“Such a good point made here, not to many people are aware of these changes and how they may affect them going forward.

Cyber Essentials is certainly worth getting your company through as it implements steps to protect you and your data on the machines you work on.

A good place to start is knowing what data you are holding in terms of importance whether it be personal or business, and then implementing security controls around that data.”

These comments serve to confirm that large companies, including Yellowbus, are becoming even more vigilant against the ever increasing threat against our data. Nothing connected to the internet will ever be completely safe but as a company that holds large amounts of data you have to do everything you can to protect it.

If you need more advice on protecting data call us free on 01925 83 83 86.

Thanks for reading,

Tom