Data Protection Top Tips
Top Tips for Data Protection
For our customer’s protection, Castle demonstrates full compliance with the Data Protection Act; and in turn offers expert advice and guidance to help ensure your information is safe and compliant. Help is at hand with these useful tips:
1. Check those credentials!
Make sure that contractors working on your site or handling your documents are uniformed, carry identification passes, and have signed a confidentiality agreement.
2. Store your records securely
All documents, information and data, both live and historical should be stored securely, whether off site, or on. Surveys indicate that a large proportion of data theft is committed by employees and contractors.
3. Super shredding service
Shred all confidential documents and data through a trusted contractor, like Castle, who can collect, store and securely destroy on your behalf.
4. Create a ‘shred-all’ policy
Making the decision of whether a document is confidential or not is no easy task, with room for error. Take the decision out of your employee’s hands by implementing a ‘shred-all’ procedure for waste paper. Use lockable bins to retain confidential waste internally, until collected by your approved supplier.
5. Insist on an audit trail
Ensure that your shredding contractor provides you with a destruction certificate for all work carried out to ensure you have an audit trail for future reference.
6. Implement a records management procedure
If you do not currently have a policy or procedure in place for managing your records and data safely, you are at risk of being non-compliant with the Data Protection Act, or for being a victim of data theft.
7. Train your staff
Ensure your employees and contractors are trained and understand how to manage their confidential data. Conduct regular monitoring to ensure your procedures are followed correctly.
8. Go digital
Reduce the amount of hard copy papers that could be misplaced, lost or stolen, by moving to digital filing and having your documents scanned by Castle!
