Those of you that know me will know that I HATE sales by scare stories. A lot of the questions I've been getting recently is in regards to GDPR - the General Data Protection Regulation which is coming into force on the 25th May 2018.
My simple advice that I've been giving my business clients is to simply use some common sense, treat any data in your control with the same standards as you'd wish your data to be treated in the hands of another.
As an example: It is not up to you to secure 'the internet', nor secure your suppliers email systems or anything out with your direct control. It is up to you to have a decent password on your computer and physically secure any hard copy data in any space which can be easily accessed.
I was fortunate enough to watch a good webinar video on a Facebook page this evening about the very subject and the subject matter expert presenting was Awesome! - Suzanne Dibble is her name and she was exceptionally non 'scare mongering', and so I'm sharing a video she has on her Youtube channel which is over 2 hours long and full of great info for small business owners.
Find Suzanne Dibble, the Small Business Law Expert here:
Links to the ICO for more information:
Most small businesses DO NOT have to register with the ICO if they are processing data for their own business activities - ie, payroll, invoicing and marketing etc. To be sure, take the self assessment over on the ICO's website here:
The ICO also has loads of free training and support material here:
Hopefully this information can put a lot of minds at ease, but still allow business owners to reflect on how they do things with their data and think about what kinds of things might need to be changed in their businesses to protect folks information.
If in doubt, speak to an expert - and from what I have seen, Suzanne certainly fits the bill to answer any question on GDPR, or any Business Law problems, for that matter.