Nicola Wood, Senior Independent Director at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) urges institutions to think about data protection law.
The significant monetary impact of poor data protection practices may have changed views on their importance and consequently changed their risk rating. High profile fines levied against Marriott, British Airways and Ticketmaster, and the fallout, have hit the headlines. There’s no doubt that getting data protection wrong has real societal impacts for the public, and commercial impacts for you.
Even before the pandemic hit, people’s personal data was shown to be the lifeblood of the economy, playing a crucial role in personal and professional lives. Data is a vital asset and corporates and their audit committees should be asking themselves serious questions about the risks they are willing to take that could ultimately hit the bank balance, damage their company’s reputation and lead to the loss of their customers’ trust, confidence and business.
When it comes to customer information, it is not just an asset for business purposes, it is something deeply personal. It must be thought of in terms of corporate due diligence and oversight. It is not about tick boxing for the sake of it; it’s about genuine risks of causing disadvantage if data is wrong, or data is wrongly shared or data is stolen during a cyber attack.
So where do you start?
A key data protection principle is accountability. It provides a real opportunity to make data protection part of your business culture and it means not only complying with the legislation but being able to show that you are. The ICO has recently published an Accountability Framework and self assessment toolkit which will help you to set out a roadmap for your organisation, making it easy for you to see what you need to do and how you can improve.
Data protection enables innovation
The ICO supports innovation and economic growth, and it is ready to support the UK as it steps forward in the global economy.
However, innovation and risks do go hand in hand and to mitigate against the data protection risk a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is your friend. This enables you to scope out the purpose of your processing at the start of any projects, the risks the processing poses and measures to counter them. If you identify a high risk that you cannot mitigate against, you are required to consult with the ICO.
A modern, pragmatic regulator
The ICO’s approach is focused on working alongside organisations, helping you to make changes and improvements to comply with the law to reduce mistakes and misuse of people’s data. Working to get it right at the outset results in better outcomes for businesses and customers.
The ICO is there to help and there are many ways that you can engage and benefit from its expertise, whether that be via guidance on the website, calling its helpline, by taking part in consultations, applying to the Sandbox or consulting with the Innovation Hub.
Nicola Wood is the Senior Independent Director at the Information Commissioner’s Office. She has a decade’s experience at board level and is a former solicitor and ombudsman.
