The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has just released its annual strategic report, highlighting the main concerns people have about how companies collect and store their personal information. The Trust and Confidence report found that the perceived importance of data protection has increased on previous years, with significantly higher numbers of people strongly agreeing that their personal information should be protected by companies they share it with.
Major findings
The report also found that more people were concerned about how their online activities were tracked and said they would lose confidence and trust in a business if it was found to have shared their data. There’s also evidence that consumers are growing in confidence, with more people feeling they had the right to be informed about how their data is collected, used and stored, and greater numbers saying they are aware of Freedom of Information requests.
Last year’s introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the most important change in data privacy regulation in 20 years, has tightened up the rules on what data a company can collect and how they use that data. Despite giving consumers more data protection, people did express concerns about how their data is kept safe.
What does this mean for businesses in the UK?
High profile data breaches mean customer trust in businesses is being eroded (for example, take the recent ICO announcement that British Airways will be fined £183.39m under GDPR for a data breach). That means that companies will have to do more to rebuild that confidence, by taking extra steps to allay customer fears over how their personal information is gathered, used and stored. As cyber-security is one of the biggest concerns highlighted in this report, companies could take measures to work towards CyberEssentials accreditation, for instance.
Common sense steps such as risk assessing the information your company holds are also essential. In order to comply with GDPR, businesses need to closely examine how they process customer information, the legal justification for harvesting it and how it is safely disposed of when it is no longer required.
GDPR and data protection compliance are complex, and breaching the rules can damage consumer trust and brand reputation. Nalders LLP employs some of the most highly qualified solicitors in Cornwall, and our team fully understands the ins and outs of data protection legislation. If your company needs guidance on GDPR and data legislation, please contact us today.