In this article, we’ll describe the security requirements relating to document production from the standpoint of data privacy and data protection laws.
Based on data protection and privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR and similar data protection laws around the world, companies and individuals must be mindful of protecting personal data.
Personal data can be in any type of medium, digital, paper or other.
No matter the medium or type of document used to capture someone’s personal data, sufficient measures should be implemented to protect and safeguard personal data.
Table of Contents
What is a security breach related to a document
When a person is able to see or view a document containing personal information or other types of protected information that they were not authorized to see or view, you have an instance of a security breach.
Based on the GDPR requirements, only those individuals who have a legitimate purpose for seeing personal information are able to see, view and process personal information.
Otherwise, the data or document would have been produced illegally exposing the company or individual to important fines.
Importance of document security
Document security is important for all businesses.
To mitigate the risk of security incidents as it relates to document production or communication, companies should adopt policies and practices to secure their documents both physical and electronic.
By improving document security and transmission, companies can minimize the possibility of sending confidential information to an unauthorized person or someone who did not legally have a purpose to obtain that information.
Describe security requirements relating to document production
Article 4(1) of GDPR defines personal data as follows:
‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;
Personal data is any information that is relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.
When organizations produce documents such as letters, emails, reports, presentations, meeting minutes and so on, they must take measures to protect the security and confidentiality of the personal data that may be contained in these business documents.
Some low-hanging fruit measures and practices we commonly see adopted by organizations are:
- Marking the business documents with a confidentiality notice
- Adopting a clean-desk policy
- Making sure no document or business material is left unattended
- Using password production with digital documents
- Restricting the network access to the repository based on those who have a legitimate purpose to access the information
- Setting up an office layout in such a way as to minimize people overseeing what may appear on your computer monitor
- Restricting areas of the business if documents and business data are stored
How can you secure your business to prevent a security breach?
There are many ways companies can secure their business to prevent a security breach.
Companies and individuals are subject to risk as it relates to their confidential information and sensitive data.
Organizations can implement the following security measures to protect their own corporate sensitive information but also personal data subject to data protection and privacy laws:
- Physical security measures
- Data security measures
- Document security measures
- Equipment security measures
Physical security is essentially ensuring that the office access and different areas of the office are restricted to those with sufficient privilege.
By ensuring that doors are locked, alarms are activated, security personnel is monitoring the traffic, cameras are placed at important secure facilities and so on, companies can mitigate the physical security risk they may be exposed to.
Data security measures are methods and technological processes aimed at restricting access to data.
Companies can also implement data security measures at a global level to prevent the introduction of malware, virus, worms and other malicious code into their networks.
Equipment security relates to ensuring that company equipment, particularly those that may contain sensitive information, are well protected against theft or illegal activities.
Document security measures relate to the processes and policies adopted by organizations to ensure that the documents are only accessed and viewed by those who have a need-to-know and stored in a safe and well-protected environment.
Takeaways
Companies must take proper security measures relating to document production, protection and communication.
In this article, we described the security requirements relating to document product in light of the data protection and data privacy laws, particularly GDPR.
Companies can adopt technical and organizational security measures to prevent security breach of confidential information, business documents and ultimately personal data.
Such measures can include:
- Physical security measures
- Data security measures
- Document security measures
- Equipment security measures
Staying on top of document security must remain a top priority for all companies dealing with personal data or sensitive information.
