Tag: ICO

Protecting your email marketing lists

Gloucester City Council (the Council) was hacked by, it is reported, Anonymous. It was fined by the ICO a not inconsiderable £100,000. This seems a bit like blaming a victim. Such a fine would be enough to cripple many companies. However, it is not quite as simple as it first appeares. The Data Protection Act … READ MORE »

Email marketing lists & Ransomware

You might have seen in newspapers or perhaps trade magazines that ransomware is an increasing problem that threatens every company. For once the alarm is not hyped. It is something that only the foolish would ignore. Part of the reason for the recent press coverage is that the ICO has recently published a blog and … READ MORE »

Being held to ransom

Email marketing is particularly vulnerable to ransomware attacks and, to make matters worse, it is one of the few IT problems where tabloid journalism has got the fear factor just about right. It is scary. The process behind ransomware is simple enough. A bit of software encrypts files on local and often networked computers. The … READ MORE »

Free offer

Email marketing is awash with free offers although they are used for what is always a selfish purpose: links, leads and subscribers. When the Information Commissioner’s Office says they will do something for us without charge, you might be a bit suspicious. The ICO has developed over time, and under their progressive new head it … READ MORE »

The challenge of big data

As titles go for an e-book, the Information Commissioner’s Office has not gone for one that grabs the attention and instead just stuck with descriptive. Let’s face it, if you saw a book in Waterstones entitled; Big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning and data protection you probably wouldn’t pick it for holiday reading. At 114 … READ MORE »

What happened with data in 2016?

2016 was a turbulent time for email marketing although perhaps not as concerning as the pundits suggested it would be. We went from tragedy to, at worst, tragedy put of. Brexit terms are unlikely to be settled for some time and uncertainty is the enemy of commerce. We have had suggestions, promises and pointers, but … READ MORE »

Keeping your email marketing lists safe

Given the recent developments with regards to the Brexit, the report by the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Cyber Security: Protection of Personal Data Online (PPDO) might have slipped under your radar. Thankfully, it is a concise report, despite its 17 recommendations. We won’t go through them all here but will … READ MORE »

The fall-out from TalkTalk’s hack

As exciting titles go, House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee Cyber Security: Protection of Personal Data Online Report (PPDO) is not one of the snappiest. We’ll stick with (PPDO). What with Brexit concerns, it might well have passed you by. Yet it deals with a significant threat to those who store personal data, … READ MORE »

Home working and data protection

There was a recent case against a city council which allowed confidential data to be available to unauthorised people due to insufficient security of staff working from home, this against the Data Protection Act (DPA). Once it was aware of the security breach the council quickly secured it. It would appear that there was no … READ MORE »

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