For companies that fall under the European Union, you have a deadline to prepare for. It comes in the form of your critical data backup and security policies and security. The official journal of the European Union has given companies until the 25 May, 2019 to become compliant.
What does this all even mean?
Basically, all the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR for short) wants is to ensure that businesses have an efficient way to restore critical information from a third-party system in light of an emergency.
If you have no clue how to get your business compliant for the looming D-day, fear not. Through this article, we will be going through some of the best practices for implementing data protection and regulation to becoming GDPR compliant.
First off, you can use a service like GDPRpop.com which will give you the code you need that will give you the popup on your site. Services like this make it as easy as copy and paste.
What Form Of Data Security And Backup Do You Currently Have?
Regardless of whether you are preparing for doomsday with GDPR, you should already have some form of data backup and protection in place. After all, loss of personal information/business-related information accounted for almost $141 million in expense as of last year.
Which is not a position that you want to put your business in.
Where is your company critical data stored? Do you work in the cloud? What about off-site backup locations? Data backup and recovery systems? These are all important questions that you need to ask.
What Are Your Procedures For Recovery
If you can answer the questions, which are listed above – chances are you are doing just dandy with data backup. Now it’s time to talk recovery. So, for the argument’s sake – let’s say you were just a victim of cyber crime (tap wood). These are some things that you would be worried about:
- How do you retrieve the data, which was lost or stolen.
- How long does it take you to restore operations back to full-service.
- Is any data lost during the recovery process.
The first bullet is pretty simple. If you use cloud data backup, or a recovery series device, then you will be able to turn to that for your solution to missing data. But, being able to restore your data in a timely manner is also important.
Here is an article that explains in-depth, how to increase your recovery time.
Another important thing you might want to jump on, is developing a comprehensive strategy for verifying data is being backed up properly on a regular basis. After all, the last thing you want to happen is being placed under the assumption that you are safe from cybercrime, just to discover your data backup processes have not been working as they should have been.
Implement New Security Techniques And Train Your Staff Members
When you think about it, your employees are the forerunners of digital security. They deal with company-sensitive information daily. Have access to critical documents, and accounts. And deal with your customers on the daily basis.
That’s why it is important to ensure they are well-trained in the arts of known cyber-criminal practises, to reduce the risk of ransomware – or other nasties causing a data nightmare for your business.
In addition to this, you should look at implementing various security techniques such as end-user encryption, dynamic data masking, or pseudonymization.
Consider Investing In Off-Premises Data Backup Equipment
This is an extra measure of caution that we suggest for businesses trying to get serious about their data recovery and backup compliance. No matter how great your recovery system is – having all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea.
What if there was a fire, a hurricane, or some other natural disaster? We all know how destructive these can be. There goes your nifty recovery appliances, servers, and pretty much everything your business needs to operate.
Which is why it is important to consider storing, and regularly updating off-site servers as dedicated recovery sites. This covers you in case of physical danger.
Further Testing On Your Data Backup Processes
According to the obligations stated by the GDPR, you will be required to test your data recovery and backup system for consistency. The results should be well-documented to prove that you are compliant according to the standards set out by the GDPR.
Daily testing of your data backup almost guarantees no unexpected news when disaster strikes. However, your company or third-party vendor may not have the resources to do this. So, how often can you test your systems to ensure everything is operating efficiently?
When it comes to compliance – testing your procedures and systems is probably one of the most important aspects that you need to take care of.