The Information Commissioner’s Office received reports of 603 serious data security breaches over a 12-month period, according to figures published in its annual report. 

A third of these breaches (186) came from the private sector, 165 from the NHS and 146 from local government. This serves as a wake-up call to businesses to look at best practice within their organisations. 

The ICO Annual Report (1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011) published earlier this month also revealed that only 19 per cent of businesses contacted by the ICO accepted the offer to undergo free data protection audits. 

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham says: “Sound data protection practices are irrevocably linked to providing good customer service.” 

DMA members can take steps to reduce their risk of data security breaches by referring to the Best Practice in Information Security Guidelines in the first instance. 

The DMA also created DataSeal in 2010, a private industry standard for data security. Developed with the British Standards Institute (BSi), its specification can help marketers meet the legislative requirements for information security.

Mike Lordan, chief of operations at the DMA says: “Implementing robust consumer information security measures needs to be a top priority for data owners and suppliers that hold customer data. As many of the well-publicised cases of data breaches show, the consequences of not doing so can have a serious impact on a company’s reputation and bottom line.”

Posted by

Neil Turner