Small businesses that may fear a big fine for breaching the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or do not know if a breach requires reporting to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can now use an affordable new helpline for advice.
Tracey O’Connell Founding Director of Bournemouth based Lawpoint and her legal team can now provide quick advice to businesses (regulated or otherwise) to avoid or manage reportable security breaches.
“Not everyone wants to pay for expensive advice when they are not even sure whether or not a reportable security breach has occurred or how serious it is. However, not acting the right way or quickly enough to a reportable security breach could cost your business more”, said Tracey O’Connell. “This is all about taking care of people’s personal data and minimising the impact if things go wrong.”
Lawpoint describes GDPR as an octopus that can reach into any aspect of the day to day running of an organisation and therefore needs controlling. Businesses of any size can face the potential of a security breach even if the company has its own appointed DPO (Data Protection Officer). Whilst a hacked IT system or the loss of an unencrypted laptop may be more obvious security breaches, a simple miss-sent email containing personal data of a customer may also be considered a security breach.
“We do this regularly for our own clients and know that not every security breach requires notification – it all depends on the risk that the breach poses to individuals. The helpline (offered within normal office hours) will not be a place where callers will receive lectures but concise answers and next stage advice, especially as a business must confess to a reportable security breach within 72 hours of a staff member recognising the issue,” said Tracey. “In our experience, the ICO will not look favourably on businesses who have not reported a security breach but where that breach has been reported to the ICO by an affected individual.”
Information can be found by visiting www.law-point.co.uk/gdpr-breach