The GDPR deadline of 25th May has been and gone – and much like when Y2K ‘hit’, the world did not collapse. Thankfully.
But the day was just the start, and not the end of the process. Everyone was a bit fed up at the flurry of emails we received towards the deadline from companies keen to get us to opt in, and to tell us what they wanted to do with our data. The lateness of some of those emails certainly seemed to suggest that a fair few companies weren’t quite as organised or far along in the process as they should have been!
The first month of GDPR saw a sharp increase in the number of complaints to regulators across Europe, showing that the public are more on the ball about, and more supportive of the legislation than companies may think they are. With the potential fines set at anywhere up to £18m, complaints are not something to be taken lightly.
Already, since the deadline, Dixons Carphone has suffered a huge data breach, with data from 5.9 million payment cards hacked, along with the personal contact details of 1.2 million people. If assessed under the GDPR ruling, it could end up being a very costly breach for them.
So, what can you do to protect your company, and how can McCarthy’s help?
The GDPR guidelines control everything around how you manage your customer, stakeholder or employee data – in fact any data you hold on anyone you interact with. From making sure people opt in to receive information from you, having a dedicated GDPR champion and alerting the authorities within three days of any data breaches, there’s lots of ticklists available online which are well worth referring back to. Now the flurry of the deadline has been and gone, it’s worth going back to it with a clear head. You can find some of our information on the legislation here.
Of course, it’s vital that when you’re disposing of any information – either in paper or electronic copy – it’s properly destroyed and can’t fall into the wrong hands. Shredding is the only way to ensure this. We can help with one off shreds – but it’s often easier for you if we bring along locked consoles to your offices which we empty regularly. Then staff can just use them to bin their confidential waste as and when needed, and we then either dispose of it in via out mobile shredding van or take it back to our industrial shredding unit. It is then sent off to be recycled, within the UK, and start a new life as toilet paper or paper towels, with no sign of the confidential information it once contained!
We also provide electronic shredding – it’s not always enough to ‘wipe’ a hard drive, laptop, USB or smartphone, as some hackers can still get access to information. At McCarthy’s we can securely wipe the data and then destroy the equipment in line with WEEE directives, meaning you can feel confident the job has been done properly. A certificate of destruction provides total reassurance.
Sometimes you have to keep hold of documentation for a certain period – and make sure it’s kept safe during this time. McCarthy’s can offer archive management in two ways – we can either manage the process for you, storing it in our secure records warehouse, or you can store it in our self storage facilities. With the first, we track the documentation via barcodes, so if you need to get it back at any point, we can quickly find it and return it directly to you. You can also arrange for documents to be shredded at a fixed point in the future, if they’re no longer needed. With the self storage unit, you hold the only key, and can gain access whenever you need it to find or add documents. Either way, it’s much safer than keeping documentation in filing cupboards or storerooms at the office – and means you’re not wasting valuable space, which could be put to better use.
So, let us help you meet your GDPR requirements – whatever your size of business, or whatever the industry, it’s not worth the risk to ignore it!