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Homeworking is being ‘proven’ (albeit, forcibly) as being partially viable in the current Coronavirus national emergency. It’s worth bearing in mind that on the back of this, some of our working practices are going to change, forever. It’s a worthwhile investment of time therefore, to get rules and structures in place, right from the start.

During the current Coronavirus ‘lockdown’ homeworking has been adopted by millions of us as the primary means of continuing business activity. The scale use of video/Internet conferencing has exploded; a visit to Amazon will reveal that all of the mid-range webcams are completely sold out!

Whilst waiting for a train last week, I overheard a (loud) telephone conversation where a legal service provider was discussing their imminent change of Case Management System (‘CMS’). (I’ll put aside the faux pas of broadcasting confidential information in a public space for another day, although I’m grateful to that individual because I did find what I heard thoroughly interesting!)

As we move very pleasantly, into what promises to be an uncommonly sunny late-May Bank Holiday weekend, I wanted to share some insight in respect of a risk that is rearing its head.

When you welcome new clients or customers on board, they probably receive terms of business/terms and conditions that would nowadays most likely include information about data protection.

By chance, I was contacted yesterday with a query about the use of apps (like WhatsApp) and ‘basic’ text messaging as a form of general communication between clients and service providers. I had intended to produce an article on this very subject in any case, but yesterdays’ enquiry accelerated the process!

I’m frequently asked by organisations about the appropriate person to appoint as the individual responsible for data protection. By the time they ask me this question, many have already appointed a senior person in their organisation, usually under the banner of Data Protection Officer.

Now that we have crossed over into the new regulation for the protection of data, there are troublingly clear indications that preparations have not been as rounded as they need to be.

Most of us have uttered a few choice words in response to the ‘opt in’ messages that have been swamping our in-boxes for the past couple of weeks or so.

Information security is the responsibility of the leaders of every organisation.

If your organisation is affected by an information security breach, the very best that you can hope for is to mitigate some of the damage; no-one walks away completely unscathed, not ever.