Are we any closer to UK data protection laws?

By |2024-02-27T07:30:25+00:00February 27th, 2024|

Ummmm – in a word, no…. Last week Secretary of State Michelle Donelan brought the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill back into the House of Commons to secure an extension. Its expiration has now been extended by 280 days, setting a new deadline of December 12, 2024. This extension was critical; without it, the bill faced lapsing on March 8, 12 months after its initial presentation. Following a second reading before Christmas, the DPDI Bill will now make its way through the House of Lords. However, the timeframe for this phase remains a subject of much speculation among political and data circles – particularly with an election looming. One of the more formidable tasks confronting the Lords is [...]

What’s going on? Everything you need to know about DPDI in the medium term

By |2023-10-11T07:13:36+00:00October 11th, 2023|

In the realm of data protection legislation, following the recent ICO Data Protection Practitioners’ Conference 2023, it is clear that the fate of the UK's long awaited Data Protection & Digital Information Bill (DPDI) is shrouded in uncertainty. Current Status and Delays As of now, the DPDI faces a challenging path towards becoming law. In his session at the conference, James Snook, the director of policy at the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology indicated that the bill might not receive Royal Assent until mid-2024, with no scheduled debates in Parliament until November 15. The bill is currently at the report stage,  which means it requires further deliberations in both the Commons and the Lords. The Looming General Election Factor [...]

Data Breach Debacle: Electoral Commission’s 300-Day Delay in UK’s Largest Hack in History!

By |2023-08-10T08:42:57+00:00August 10th, 2023|

On the ICO website it clearly states that organisations suffering data breaches must report it within 72 hours of being made aware of the breach. Lets be clear 72 hours. That equates to three days, Not the 300 days it has taken the Electoral Commission to fess up to THE BIGGEST data breach in UK history. For those that have missed the headlines The Electoral Commission reported a breach on 8th August 2023 having discovered in October 2022 that hackers were playing fast and loose with its systems since August 2021. This includes unfettered access to the names and addresses of at least 40 million people registered to vote between 2014 and 2022. Oh dear. The eagle eyed of you [...]

Direct marketing spend at highest level since 2006

By |2023-08-02T10:08:51+00:00August 2nd, 2023|

The ongoing cost-of-living crisis has had a big impact on media spend, the latest IPA Bellwether report reveals. Main media budgets encompassing TV, online, radio and press have tanked, whilst direct marketing, events and sales promotions have soared, reflecting reactive change by UK businesses in response to the economic climate. Sales promotions achieved the highest growth rate (13.4 percent), its biggest uplift in more than two decades of survey data. This indicates that marketers are keen to support their customers by providing them value for money, through offers and deals. Events also performed well, experiencing an increase of 9.3 percent. The growth is attributed to a desire from brands to have closer, more personal relationships with their customers. Underpinning this [...]

Those most likely to donate as a result of Direct Mail

By |2023-07-21T09:18:23+00:00July 21st, 2023|

A new study, The Future of Direct Mail 2023, reinforces the effectiveness of direct mail, with the overwhelming finding that 81% of people engaging with direct mail in some way. Almost two thirds were found to have purchased a physical product as a result of receiving a piece of DM, 43% took advantage of a discount or special offer that was promoted through the mail, 35% applied for a financial product whilst 25% donated to charity as a direct result of a call to action within a mail pack. With charity fundraising suffering as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, understanding the impact of direct mail and who is most likely to respond is incredibly valuable. The report finds that, [...]

Data processing security is key data concern for 2023

By |2023-07-11T13:01:31+00:00July 11th, 2023|

Our latest review of the GDPR enforcements undertaken by the ICO over the past 12 months reveals that data processing security and right of access are the most common infringements since July 2022. Almost a third (30 per cent) of the 30 recorded infringements this year pertained to Article 5, the principles relating to data processing and of these 21 per cent were for Article 5 (f) which specifies that personal data must be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security. Sixteen per cent contravened Article 15: Right of Access by the data subject and 15 per cent were non-compliant to Article 12 (data transparency) and Article 32 (security of processing). Last year the lion’s share of enforcements (61 [...]

Has MOVEit made you think more seriously about data governance?

By |2023-06-19T13:04:59+00:00June 19th, 2023|

If not, it should and here’s why As the days roll by it is becoming increasingly clear that the MOVEit vulnerability which was discovered earlier this month is having very, very far-reaching repercussions. A growing list of UK companies have been affected by the cyberattack on payroll service provider Zellis, which occurred via one of its third-party suppliers (Moveit), this has resulted in hundreds of thousands of staff members at these organisations having their personal information posted on the dark web. The hack was first made public when US-based firm Progress Software identified that hackers had discovered a method of breaking into its MOVEit Transfer tool, a widely used software which enables users to move files from one place to [...]

Zero trust and the role of data hygiene 

By |2023-02-27T16:21:38+00:00February 27th, 2023|

Massive amounts of data are being generated daily - from exercise stats compiled by wearables through to smart building monitors that collect temperature and air pressure information every 15 minutes. If data creation continues at its present rate, more than a yottabyte (a million trillion megabytes) will likely be generated annually by 2030. We are really starting to put the big into big data!  But with data, comes data threat. The two are synonymous. Last year it is estimated that there were 4,100 publicly announced breaches in security equating to 22 billion records being compromised and a rise of over 25 percent is expected this year. In an attempt to mitigate these threats, it is unsurprising that within three years Gartner [...]

ICO calls for SMEs to be more data aware; we call the ICO to do more with #HelptoGrow! 

By |2023-01-31T08:27:16+00:00January 31st, 2023|

The Information Commissioner is urging SMEs to check they have the right data protection practices in place to help sustain and develop their businesses. The UK regulator says getting good data practices in place from the start will save businesses time and money, and boost customer confidence. A recent survey, commissioned by the ICO reveals that 91 percent of people worried about having their personal information sold to other companies without their consent, and 87 percent worried about a company losing their personal information. And this is not surprising considering a survey by the DMA found that only 10 per cent of SME leaders felt that they were complaint with current data protection laws. Another shocking report found that half [...]

Analytics are only as strong as the underlying data

By |2022-09-16T13:16:01+00:00September 16th, 2022|

Why data hygiene must become a priority post covid According to Fortune Business Insights, the global machine learning and analytics market is expected to grow from $21.17 billion in 2022 to $209.91 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 38.8 percent. Clearly it is big business, and the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has served to accelerate demand. Increasingly organisations from all sectors are turning to computers to make decisions from insurers calculating a customer’s risk profile through to airlines looking to work out how much food and drink to carry onboard. Every industry without exception can apply analytics to its data to make faster, more informed decisions. But, and it is a big BUT, analytics and machine learning [...]

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