The protection of personal data is the responsibility of the employer who processes or archives the data. However, owners often fail to notice that employees also have access to data requiring protection, and that they are often unaware of how to protect it. Their leakage may have fatal consequences for the company's image.

Company image in the eyes of the customer

The image of the company can be defined in different ways. The common point of these definitions is the combination of two aspects - the image of our company and the reaction it evokes. We can build the image in different directions, depending on how we want to appear on the market. And so we can work on the image of a specialist company in a given field or, on the contrary, implementing standard projects. We can build a brand of a professional or a company that is worth trusting. However, if we do not adequately protect the personal data of our employees, customers and know-how within the company, we will ruin our branding irretrievably.

The most common mistakes in the area of personal data protection in the company

For years, the media have been reporting cases of personal data theft or use without the consent of the owners for various purposes, including fraud. Just to mention the scamming of credit for stolen documents, the fines that come to our mailboxes for offences that we have not committed, the phone calls from telemarketers who insist that they have the right to process them. Where do these data come from? Mostly because of our mistakes. How does it look like in a company and what should we pay attention to when building a data protection policy?

Destruction of personal data - the best way to protect personal data is to destroy it when it is no longer needed or when we lose the right to process it. Often our employees simply throw their documents in the bin. In every company that cares about its image, there will be a shredder for paper and data carriers. We should also train employees in the security and protection of personal data, its nature and the way in which it is destroyed. It is not necessary to imagine what kind of catastrophe, not just an image catastrophe, can result from a situation in which someone, as part of economic espionage, finds our bank statements in a rubbish dump or the drafts of contracts with our customers with all the data.

Passwords and encryption - few companies encrypt e-mails with important content or set up passwords to send documents. E-mails can be intercepted very easily, and what is more, it is equally easy to send protected e-mails to the wrong recipient. Employees often write passwords to computers, files or systems on sheets of paper that they leave near the computer. This is unacceptable, no matter how much we trust our colleagues. Our office is often visited by people from outside the company.

Emails to all - saving recipients in the mailbox is very convenient. Most mail handling programs do this automatically. However, it is equally easy to make personal data available to unwanted and unauthorized persons, for example by sending an e-mail and entering e-mail addresses in the addressee field instead of in the hidden addressee field. If our recipient has an e-mail address consisting of his name and surname, we violate his right to the protection of personal data.

Phone calls - the best source of sensitive information leakage. Listening to conversations is the easiest way to get them. Therefore, we should make our employees aware that they should not talk about important issues over the phone or provide passwords, valuations or other important information.

Filters on the monitor - the screen of our computer visible to other employees is an incentive to peep. What if someone's watching us from the office across the street with binoculars? Let us also take care of this aspect.

As you can see, the protection of personal data is not an obvious and easy matter. The sooner we take care of this issue of our company's activity, the better for our image. It is worth remembering Warren Buffett's words about the fact that the company's reputation is built up over twenty years and can be destroyed in just five minutes.