It is poor practice for you or your staff to hold customer data on laptops and other portable devices which are not encrypted.

The Information Commissioner has recently stated that firms should ensure that laptops and other portable devices used to store customer data should be encrypted.

Companies and Advisors who own their own clients and, therefore, process their clients’ personal data are considered to be Data Controllers under the Data Protection Act (DPA).  As such they are required to maintain an annually renewable Data Protection Notification.

A CAUTIONERY TALE

The information Commissioner’s office (ICO) has fined Ealing Council £80,000, while fining Hounslow Council £70,000. These fines were for breaches of the Data Protection Act.

WHAT DID THEY DO?

Two laptops containing the details of around 1,700 individuals were clients of Ealing Council and the remainder were clients of Hounslow Council. Both laptops were password protected but unencrypted. The key statement from the ICO is:

“There is no evidence to suggest that the data held on the computers has been accessed and no complaints from clients have been received by the data controllers to date but there was nevertheless a significant risk to the clients’ privacy”

These sorts of fines could easily be applied to companies and advisors found similarly culpable of failing in their duty as data controllers.

WHAT YOU MUST DO TO BE SAFE.

Any portable machine that is (or can be) used to hold client data MUST be encrypted – it is sufficient under the act that the machine CAN hold client data. The only way to avoid having to encrypt is never to use the machine for business, even accessing email.

HOW CAN UNECOM IT HELP

With Unecom’s Encryption Solution – utilising Mcafee Endpoint Encryption.

We can:

-          Encrypt all portable devices (PC and Mac OS X)to full disk level in compliance with FIPS 140-2

-          Produce certified evidence the machines have been encrypted.

-          Arrange for a full disk copy to be taken BEFORE the encryption process begins.

-          Destroy the full disk copy once the encryption has been tested and is satisfactory.

WHAT METHODS ARE AVAILABLE?

-          The suggested way forward is calling Unecom IT to arrange a bulk encryption session.
This is the most economical route, 1 technician can encrypt up to 6 laptops.

-          Arrange an onsite visit for sole traders or small businesses where the full cost will apply.

WHAT DOES IT COST?

-          Please contact Unecom IT on 01162417151 or sales@unecom.co.uk for more information.

Useful links from the Financial Services Authority:

Data Security in Financial Services

Your responsibilities for customer data security

Unecom March Newletter

In the past businesses have relied on hardware to handle every day business operations such as email and data storage. The problem with this system is having to regularly replace machines and the expense of maintaining machines.

Most businesses have relied on their hardware and accepted low performance from mail servers etc until eventually an IT engineer is called to rectify the problem. In many cases the only solution is to replace an expensive piece of hardware.

The Future: Cloud services provide the same security as a piece of hardware in your building but with the benefit of constant high levels of performance. There are no upfront expensive infrastructure costs and no ongoing maintenance costs. Basically, you pay for a service and get the service where and when you want it, to the specification you expect and need.

If you require any further information, call me, Richard @ Unecom It Services 0116 241 7151.

Some of our services:
Hosted Exchange Email

• Business Class Email, Synchronised across all of your email enabled devices.
• World Class SPAM & Virus Protection.
• Individual and shared calendars.
• Individual and shared contact lists.
• Individual and shared task lists.
• Public folders for storing shared files, email items etc.
• Outlook Web Access – get the full outlook experience from any computer, anywhere.
• Multiple backups of all mailbox data for disaster recovery (every 30 minutes)
• 30 days of deleted data immediately recoverable.
• Free copy of Microsoft outlook with every mailbox.

Backup and Disaster Recovery

• World Class SAS70 Certification.
• AES-256 encryption – a government and industry standard that’s one of the most well-studied and most secure encryption algorithms available.
• Keep as many versions of files as required.
• Backup key files more often.
• Unecom’s backup solution will work alongside your current internal backup for added protection.

Remote Monitoring & Alerting

• Serious potential problems can be quickly identified before they turn into critical issues.
• Unecom can produce a range of useful reports so you’ll know exactly what’s going on in your IT environment including;
  • Disk Utilisation
  • Memory Utilisation
  • Backup Logs
  • Antivirus Logs
• Easier access to support technicians.
• Remote support sessions can be initiated quicker.

August 2010… sees the launch of the new Unecom IT Services website which has been redesigned in collaboration with Loughborough based marketing services provider, Mulberry Square and marketing specialists, RHSM.

The website has been re-launched with a new look and new content to better represent the Managed IT Services we offer. 

The new site covers our core services in more depth and includes customer testimonials. It also makes it easier for clients to get in-touch and access our resources. 

Talking about the website, Richard Reynolds, Sales Director at Unecom IT, commented: ‘We are delighted with the new website. It represents our specialist approach to IT Support and reflects our long-term strategic plan to become the East Midlands’ leading Managed IT Services Provider. As well as the design of the site, we wanted to update the content and functionality of the website to fulfil expectations from our clients.’ 

Tell us what you think? 

We want our IT Services website to be everything it should be and would love to know your thoughts. so please email any comments to info@unecom.co.uk and let us know what you think.