The Guide to GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation that establishes protections for the privacy and security of sensitive data for individuals in the European Union (EU). The data protection regulation was designed to harmonize data privacy laws throughout the EU and replaced the long-standing Data Protection Directive.
However, GDPR regulations apply to all organizations that handle and process EU citizens’ data, regardless of whether they’re located in the EU or not. The regulation protects EU citizens’ personal data by defining how organizations process, store, and destroy it when it’s no longer required. It also gives individuals more control of how companies can use information that is directly related to them.
Additionally, it lays down very strict rules governing what happens if access to personal data is breached and the consequences organizations will suffer. Failure to meet GDPR requirements can result in costly penalties of four percent of annual global turnover (revenue) or €20 million ($24 million in U.S. dollars) –whichever is greater.
Related Reading: The Cost of Not Being GDPR Compliant
Know Your Terms: GoAnywhere Glossary
The Eight Specific GDPR Rights
For organizations to effectively protect and secure personal data, the GDPR requires them to meet eight specific rights. They are:
- The Right of Access (GDPR Article 15) – After data is collected, a data subject has the right to know how it has been collected, processed, and stored, what data exists, and for what purposes.
- The Right to Be Informed (GDPR Articles 13 & 14) – Before data is collected, a data subject has the right to know how it will be collected, processed, and stored, and for what purposes.
- The Right to Correction (“Rectification”) (GDPR Articles 16 & 19) – A data subject has the right to have incorrect or incomplete data corrected.
- The Right to Erasure (Right to Be Forgotten) (GDPR Articles 17 & 19) – A data subject has the right to have personal data permanently deleted.
- The Right to Data Portability (GDPR Article 20) – A data subject has the right to move, copy, or transfer personal data from one data controller to another, in a safe and secure way, in a commonly used and machine-readable format. Wherever technically possible, this also includes the right to have the data transferred directly from one controller to another without the data subject having to handle the data.
- The Right to Not Be Subject to Automated Decision Making (GDPR Article 22) – A data subject has the right to demand human intervention, rather than having important decisions made solely by algorithm.
- The Right to Object Processing (GDPR Article 21) – A data subject has the right to object to being subject to public authorities or companies processing their data without explicit consent. A data subject also has the right to stop personal data from being included in direct marketing databases.
- The Right to Restriction of Processing (GDPR Article 18) – A data subject has the right to block or suppress personal data being processed or used.
Go in Depth: GDPR: Understanding the 8 Rights of Data Subjects
Six Technologies To Help Your Business With GDPR Compliance
To ensure that you’re adhering to GDPR guidelines, you need to protect your customers’ information. Here are six technologies that can help you stay compliant:
1. Managed File Transfer (MFT)
Managed file transfer (MFT) solutions use industry-standard network protocols and encryption methods to streamline the management of company data. These solutions automate data transfer across the organization, network, systems, applications, partners, and cloud environments using a centralized interface.
To use an MFT solution, you’d first securely send a file through an MFT program or email plugin. The software then encrypts the file and delivers it to the intended recipients. Finally, the recipients will decrypt the files so they can read the content.
MFT applications help ensure the secure collection, movement, and usage of personally identifiable data by providing organizations with a holistic view of their data movement processes. Some key security-enhancing capabilities to look for include data encryption, access rights management, and full audit trails.
Related Reading: What is Managed File Transfer (MFT)?
2. Automated Data Protection Processes
You can use these solutions to automate data protection processes and gain better visibility into the movement of sensitive information in and out of your organization. This helps eliminate inefficiencies, errors, and delays caused by manual procedures. Many of these solutions also offer protection against data loss and data theft while providing enhanced visibility into data breaches.
To make automation work for your business, first define and standardize procedural and technological controls for protecting personal data. Based on your business model and criteria, you can then select a solution that offers the right features, such as encryption, multi-factor authentication, and pseudonymization to implement the automation.
Related Reading: 5 Benefits of Automation
3. Privacy Impact Assessments
These technologies help organizations evaluate the potential impact that their business decisions will have on users’ data privacy. Companies can be clued into potential violations early on, so they can avoid issues down the road.
Such assessments are particularly useful in supporting new product launches, geographic expansions, and mergers and acquisition activities. Organizations can identify high-risk data that’s being collected, assess gaps in their compliance efforts, remediate areas of concern, and create an audit trail to stay compliant.
4. Individual Rights Compliance
Since the GDPR grants individual users the rights over how businesses use their data, you need the tools that will enable customers to enact the right to access their data, restrict or object to the processing of their data, and data portability.
These solutions allow you to create custom individual rights request forms, provide notifications, and set automated reporting to meet individual rights requirements. You can identify the storage locations of the data requested by users and fulfill requests within the required 30-day time frame without interfering existing business processes.
5. Data Mapping
Staying GDPR compliant can be particularly challenging for organizations that don’t have an exacting data management practice. This is because a large part of GDPR focuses on justifying the type and scope of data being collected and demonstrating compliance in a timely manner. Instead of being data processors, organizations need to act as data controllers.
Data mapping solutions help you understand what data your organization is collecting, where the information is being stored, and who has access to it. With such knowledge, you can determine what additional obligations may apply to the data based on sensitivity, geography, or other factors.
6. Pseudonymization Technologies
These technologies allow you to implement a data-masking tactic, which is referenced in the actual text of the regulation.
The technologies work by storing an individual’s information in many separate files and under many different names. As a result, hackers can’t get their hands on customers’ full information by simply stealing one file or reassembling personally identifiable information from multiple sources.
Addressing Security and GDPR Compliance with GoAnywhere MFT
In order to comply with the GDPR, organizations must be able to provide a “reasonable level of data protection and privacy” upon request, no matter if it’s located on-premises, remotely, or in the cloud.
GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer (MFT) is a secure and all-in-one managed file transfer solution that helps organizations meet GDPR requirements by providing an auditable solution with flexibility, encryption, and more.
The benefits of GoAnywhere MFT for security and GDPR compliance needs include:
- Encryption of data in transit and at rest
- Detailed audit logs for reporting
- Secure connections for the transmission of sensitive data
- Strong encryption key management that stays in your control
- Centralized control and management of file transfers
- Role-based administration and permissions
- Secure Mail module for sending files using email with HTTPS download links
Related Reading: 6 Technologies to Help Your Business with GDPR Compliance
Meeting GDPR Requirements with GoAnywhere MFT
GoAnywhere MFT helps organizations to address key GDPR rights, articles, and their sub-components. These requirements range from collecting consent forms and performing integrity checks on successful transfers, to ensuring your organization integrates proper security processes and audits all personal data.
Watch the Webinar: Meeting GDPR Requirements with GoAnywhere MFT
Learn How GoAnywhere Can Help You Achieve GDPR-Compliant File Transfers
If you’re looking for a comprehensive way to address GDPR requirements, we’ve put together a guide that demonstrates which key features in GoAnywhere MFT will bring you one step closer to fulfilling specific GDPR standards.
