CyberSecurity World

ICO Referendum result response An ICO spokesperson said: “The Data Protection Act remains the law of the land irrespective of the referendum result. “If the UK is not part of the EU, then upcoming EU reforms to data protection law would not directly apply to the UK. But if the UK wants to trade with the Single Market on equal terms we would have to prove 'adequacy' - in other words UK data protection standards would have to be equivalent to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation framework starting in 2018. “With so many businesses and services operating across borders, international consistency around data protection laws and rights is crucial both to businesses and organisations and to consumers and citizens. The ICO’s role has always involved working closely with regulators in other countries, and that would continue to be the case. “Having clear laws with safeguards in place is more important than ever given the growing digital economy, and we will be s...

The ICO recently carried out a study of the recent security incidents that have been reported or notified to the ICO. It's no shock that data breaches are on the rise with two-thirds of sectors studied reporting an increase in the first quarter compared with the same time a year ago, according to new ICO figures. The data protection watchdog, ICO have shown findings for the period 1 January – 31 March 2016 and uncovered some worrying statistics. Below are the key data security issues for each sector:  Data security incidents by type: The main data security issues within the health sector were: Data being posted or faxed to an incorrect recipient – 22% of incidents. Loss or theft of paperwork – 20% of incidents. The main issues for local government were: Data being posted or faxed to an incorrect recipient – 23% of incidents. Failure to redact data – 16% of incidents. Loss of theft of paperwork – 14% of incidents. The main issues for education were: Los...