ARTICLE BY: Laura Walton
If there were ever a time to fall afoul of the GDPR Regulations, we think it’s safe to say that it’s now. Four months on from the introduction of the new regulations on 25th May 2018, we have seen some of the largest companies make the biggest mistakes when it comes to breaching regulations.
GDPR was the biggest change in data protection since the introduction of the Data Protection Act in 1998. Almost everybody, for many years now, has been aware (or ought to have been aware) of how important and crucial it is to keep private information about people, private.
This week it has been reported that British Airways’ (BA) systems have been hacked and have fallen victim to the ever-increasing risk of cyber crime. Hundreds of thousands of individuals’ bank details have been infiltrated and accessed, and subsequently stolen by ‘hackers’ according to recent news reports. BA has confirmed that individual passport numbers have not been accessed, but people are encouraged to contact their bank if they have booked a flight with BA within the last few weeks.
Surprisingly, for a corporation of this size, this isn’t the first time BA has received negative press in relation to breaching GDPR. Evidently, hackers are very skilled in extracting personal and private information and to a certain extent this breach falls outside BA’s control. However, in July of this year, BA caused uproar by asking their Twitter users to confirm their full names, registered addresses, email addresses and dates of birth. BA failed to instruct Twitter users to message them privately, and within hours, hundreds of pieces of personal information were open and accessible to the world wide web and all of its users.
When it comes to GDPR, there are numerous aspects that are entirely within your control, and active steps that ought to be taken to protect you, your clients, customers and ultimately your business.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has never been so busy, and with breaches still occurring, even in the most obvious of ways such as using social media platforms, it is more important than ever to ensure that you’ve taken steps towards complying with GDPR – and if you have, that they are the correct ones.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
If you think your business might benefit from a health check, in relation to GDPR or any aspect of commercial and corporate services, please do not hesitate to contact Richard Coulthard, Director of Oakwood Solicitors and Head of the Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department. You can contact him by email at R.Coulthard@oakwoodsolicitors.co.uk, call on 0113 200 9787, or contact us online here to discuss how we can help you.
Quick Enquiry
Richard Coulthard
Director and Solicitor
Call 0113 200 9787 to speak to one of our solicitors.
Simply complete this short form and one of our experts will be in touch soon.Your confidentiality is always assured and we aim to provide excellence in our client care.See what our customers think of us…See staff from this department
NEED HELP WITH THIS SERVICE – CLICK TO CONTACT US
CONTACT US NOW
