British Airways, the quintessentially
British airliner, hit front pages across the globe yesterday (8 July) after the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ruled that the company is set to face a
record fine of £183m for last year’s breach of its security systems.
The fine, according to the ICO, was the largest
penalty it had handed out and the first to be made public, providing a scare to
frequent BA fliers and an even bigger fright for fellow FTSE 100 companies.
But, could the breach have been easily
avoided? It’s hard to say without knowing all the facts but you can’t ignore
that, when companies fail to implement reasonable prevention procedures, they
leave themselves wide open to a security breach. This, is why many companies
are starting to worry.
When GDPR first came into place, a lot was
made about how strictly it would be regulated and, if the BA breach teaches us
anything, it’s that you ignore GDPR at your peril. Many of us, and I include
myself in this, were trying to figure out how we could market our products and
services to our existing customers and prospects while staying on the right
side of the law.
In fact, a lot of people working with data weren’t convinced that
the regulators and legislators were going to take GDPR seriously when it came
into play. Ironically, it has taken a breach of this magnitude to really drive
home the message and, for Nice Network, a reminder of how worthwhile securing
our ISO27001 certification is and highlights how much of an impact the upgrades
we’ve made to our security software have had on us as a business.
At the centre of this investment is the
ongoing time and effort spent on making sure our sales organisation and
technical teams are fully trained and competent when it comes to complex
conversations regarding cyber essentials to protect your network and maybe more
importantly the impact of not doing anything to protect it, all the way to
managing the security of fleets of mobile devices using MDM software, something
which we haven’t just implemented for our own benefit, but for our clients
across the board.
The main issue facing many businesses
however, is the cost implication. Now, while it isn’t majorly expensive, it can
be yet another expense for a CIO/CTO/Head of IT who has already outlined a budget
for the quarter and can easily be brushed aside.
However, the million-dollar question is
this: would you rather outlay a little extra, or put something aside for a
quarter, and prevent a data breach like BA? Or run the risk?
As a company that helps others undergo
digital transformation, data drives everything we do, so we’re aware of our
duty to educate and help others so that they stay on the right side of GDPR –
and we’re always happy to have a chat and tailor a solution that can keep your
company safe while making you more productive. Whether it’s helping you install
a network-neutral data centre or simply protecting your mobile devices, we have
the expertise to help.
So, if you’re worried that you could
potentially fall victim of a data breach and are wondering how to prevent such
an issue arising, why not drop us a line? Nice Network can help secure your
data whilst ensuring your business runs seamlessly. For more information, visit us at: http://nicenetwork.uk/ or drop me an email at: Geoff@nicenetwork.uk