What is GDPR and how can it affect your business?

DISCLAIMER: We are not lawyers and we advise you to seek your own legal council when dealing in the regulatory environment. This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Remote Cloud Consulting Inc. cannot be held liable for any decisions made as a result of reading this article.

When it comes to the Internet, concerns about data security and individual privacy go hand in hand. People and companies aren’t just concerned about hordes of mysterious hoodie-wearing hacker punks breaking into their bank accounts. No, they’re also worried about just how much of their personal and sensitive information is accessible to strangers.

So there are two separate concerns at work here. First, there's the fear of disasters such as financial ruin when personal security gets breached. Then there are the unsettling feelings you get when you discover that random strangers, companies, and Internet entities can easily determine how much you’ve been spending on socks over the last year.

The European Union has addressed these concerns by implementing a set of “one size fits all” privacy and security laws that are staggering in scope, breadth, and punishment. And believe it or not, these laws, existing under the umbrella name of GDPR, can affect you. Let's take a closer look at the GDPR and see why you need to be aware of it if you have your own business.

GDPR: A Definition

Privacy and security, European style

At first glance, the acronym GDPR looks like a Cold War-era term you’d find in East Germany or some such (“Greetings comrade, and welcome to the German Democratic People’s Republic!”). But in reality, it stands for General Data Protection Regulation.

The GDPR consists of the most demanding set of security and privacy laws in the world today. The regulations went into place on May 25, 2018. Although the European Union drafted and passed the GDPR, the rules apply to anyone collecting data or targeting people in the European Union, regardless of where the company or person comes from. So, even if you're not working and living in the European Union, you still must comply with the GDPR if you conduct business with EU citizens. Otherwise, you pay the price, and the price is steep!

The GDPR imposes severe fines on anyone who violates these regulations, potentially costing tens of millions of Euros. There are two penalty tiers, and they max out at either 4% of the offender’s global revenue, or 20 million Euros, whichever is higher.

Oh, and data subjects can seek compensation for damages.

Suffice it to say, when it comes to privacy, the European Union isn’t messing around. For example, the GDPR is 88 pages long. So why is the EU taking such draconian measures?

It’s All About Privacy

As long as individuals and corporations snoop around our private lives, we’re going to need protection, especially online.

The issue of personal privacy in the context of the GDPR has its roots in the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, which declares, “Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.”

This declaration evolved into the European Data Protection Directive of 1995, which established minimum data security and privacy standards. However, the rapidly changing technology of the Internet was outpacing legislation. Consider it yet another case where the speed of innovation races ahead of laws, ethics, and societal norms.

Thus, in 2011, the authorities responsible for protecting European data announced that the EU needed something that offered more comprehensive data protection. Five years later, the GDPR took effect, and two years later, all organizations had to be compliant.

Here is the official list of privacy rights enjoyed by every data subject (e.g., the person who is having their data processed) under the GDPR:

• The right to be informed
• The right of access
• The right to rectification
• The right to erasure
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to data portability
• The right to object
• Any rights relating to automated decision making and profiling.

So now that we see how far-reaching and comprehensive these regulations are, not to mention the consequences of not going along with them, let’s see what compliance looks like.

The Facts About GDPR Compliance

How does a business or organization become GDPR compliant?

GDPR compliance hinges on a series of fundamental regulatory practices. Here are the eight salient points.

Data Protection. Seven accountability and protection principles must be followed by anyone who conducts data processing.

• All processing must be fair, lawful, and transparent to the subject of the data.
• You must limit the processing of data to the purposes clearly relayed to the data subject during collection.
• You should collect and process only as much data as needed for the purposes outlined.
• You must keep all collected data up to date and accurate.
• You can only store the data for as long as is needed to carry out its purpose.
• Data processing must be conducted in a way that ensures security, confidentiality, and integrity.
• Your data controller must be able to demonstrate data compliance with GDPR standards.

Accountability. As outlined in the last principle, data controllers must prove that the organization is data compliant.

Data Security. Data security includes measures like end-to-end encryption and two-factor authentication. If you get a data breach, you will have 72 hours to report it to the data subjects.

Everything the organization does must be, by design and default, geared towards data protection. Whenever you roll out a new release or service, data protection must be a major influence.

Data processing must be limited to specific incidences. The GDPR has something called Article 6 that outlines the conditions when it’s legal to process data.

Follow the rules of consent. There are strict rules for what defines a data subject’s consent in the context of processing information.

Some organizations need Data Protection Officers. However, as a rule, you only need DPOs if you’re a public authority, you regularly conduct large-scale monitoring, or you perform large-scale processing of specific data categories.

People’s right to privacy. This point harkens back to the previously described list of privacy rights. Anyone who uses the Internet is considered a data subject, and data subjects are entitled to those privacy rights.

Is Compliance with International Security Standards Really That Important?

Spoiler Alert: The correct answer is “Yes. Yes, it is.”

Whether you are working in a Small to Medium Business or are just going at it solo, you need an Internet presence to maximize your earning potential. It's a digital world out there, and any business, regardless of size, that wants to make it today needs to establish an online marketplace and conform to the standards and practices of all the nations you may get business from.

However, the online community knows no international borders, so it stands to reason that your company may get business from customers outside your home country. This possibility, in turn, means that there’s a better than average chance that some of that business will come from Europe.

See where this is going?

So, if you want a smooth relationship with potential international customers and that involves collecting or processing their personal data, then yes, you need to comply with international security and privacy standards like GDPR.

Is the Cloud Affected in Any Way by GDPR?

The short answer? Yes. The long answer? Oh yes, very much so!

The Internet is a big deal and has been for a while now. Likewise, data security and customer confidentiality are big deals thanks in part to the many security incidents publicized over the last decade. But do you know what the latest big deal is? Cloud computing!

The GDPR has over a half-dozen requirements for cloud service providers. There is also a code of conduct that cloud service providers and processors must adopt to show compliance with GDPR.

But there’s an added dimension to the cloud and how it applies to GDPR. Since so many businesses are migrating to the cloud, they must make sure that not only are their general data processing operations and customer privacy practices are GDPR compliant, but any processes that use the cloud must also conform to the standards.

Therefore, a business that relies heavily on the cloud for its day-to-day operations has more compliance issues to contend with. That may sound like a big burden, but there’s an easy solution, a way to make sure that your business can enjoy the power and convenience of the cloud without falling short of GDPR compliance requirements.

Help is on the Way!

Some resources can help you navigate foreign waters.

Data security and customer privacy are extremely serious matters. The penalties for non-compliance reflect that seriousness, and “I wasn’t aware of the rules” won’t hold much sway with a regulating body. That’s why it’s essential to let experts help your business find it way through the complex maze of regulations and requirements.

Consulting firms specialize in helping businesses of all sizes deal with the various aspects of cloud computing, companies like Remote Cloud Consulting, for example. By making use of an experienced cloud consultant, your business can reap the benefits of cloud-based computing while having peace of mind knowing that your company is adhering to the various international regulations out there.

Trust the professionals to do the heavy lifting of compliance. But at the same time, you power your business to new heights of competitiveness by taking full advantage of the many benefits cloud computing has to offer!