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News & views on all things GDPR

Demystifying SARs: Handling a Subject Access Request

For today’s post, we’re taking a quick dive into the murky depths of Subject Access Requests. Imagine this scenario. One of your students, staff members, or anyone you might have information about is standing at the front desk, and they’re…
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GDPR and Climate Change: An Unexpected Benefit

Here’s a good news story to kick off the new month…   The GDPR has provided a whole new framework for data protection, a framework that is centred around an individual’s right to privacy rather than an organisation’s desire…
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Managing Mental Health Concerns in Higher Education

  In schools, responsibility surrounding children’s mental health and wellbeing is clearly documented. Legislation such as the 1989 Children’s Act, and guidance such as “Keeping Children Safe in Education,” set out responsibilities…
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Returning to the Office (and the Pub!)

  We’ve reached a new checkpoint in Boris’s Covid roadmap. Yesterday, non-essential shops reopened, and many flocked to their local pub to enjoy a pint outside. For many, yesterday also marked their first day back in the office.…
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Understanding Anonymisation

  When you purchase a product or use a service, at some point you will probably receive a feedback form. It’s almost an inevitability. It might be a form that arrives on email, or an irritating pop-up in an app. Recently, if you…
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It's been 'Zero-Days' Since The Last Incident

Last week, a global hacking campaign targeted Microsoft Exchange servers, and compromised hundreds of UK companies. It was estimated that more than 500 email servers in the UK were hacked, alongside many more across the world. Attackers used…
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Who Wants to be an Information Commissioner?

Last Month, The U.K. Commissioner for Public Appointments posted an advertisement for a new Information Commissioner. Current Commissioner Elizabeth Denham announced previously that she was leaving her post in October, having overseen the…
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Image of DNA model, with vertical code in green text in the background.

GDPR and Genetic Testing

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In the second instalment of our Emerging Tech series, we look at the development of commercial genetic testing, and the data protection implications of widespread genetic screening.     “Customers who are genetically similar to you…
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What's the Deal With WhatsApp?

WhatsApp have spent the last month putting out self-inflicted fires. After a disastrous announcement of changes to their terms of service, the company have been scrambling to convince users to stick with the app. However, even with delayed implementation…
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Image of face breaking into cubes, representing AI and Machine Learning

Bringing Up Baby: Raising Biased AI

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Anyone involved in last year’s exam grade saga probably harbours a level of resentment against algorithms.  The government formula was designed to standardise grades across the country. Instead, it affected students disproportionately,…
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Data Protection Day: Staying Alert

Today is Data Protection Day. It's not on the front page of the papers, but you might see a little notification on the bottom of the Google Homepage. In 2007, the Council of Europe designated January 28th Data Protection Day (or Data Privacy…
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School, Interrupted: Data Protection and Mental Wellbeing

It has now been over a year since Chinese authorities reported the first case of Covid-19 to the World Health Organisation. This year has brought tragedy for the many people who have lost loved ones. It's also brought difficulties for all, with…
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Christmas Cards Come but Once a Year

It has been a year of chaos. The Oxford English Dictionary usually nominate one word as ‘Word of the Year’. This year, there has been so much change that they couldn’t narrow it down to just one. “Covid-19, Lockdown, Anti-Maskers, Unmute”…
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The Rise and Fall of the Privacy Shield

The EU-US Privacy shield, a framework designed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the European commission, has been struck down by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The framework, approved by the EU in 2016, has been at the centre…
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Personal Data in the time of Covid-19

With more than 3,000 cases of the new coronavirus confirmed, Italy has announced that it will be shutting all schools for 10 days, to slow the spread of the disease. With cases beginning to increase in the UK, the possibility of similar action…
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The Misfortunes of Misdirected Emails

Last week, the University of East Anglia (UEA) paid out over £140,000 compensation to students affected by a 2017 data breach. An email containing information on personal issues, health problems and circumstances such as bereavement, was mistakenly…
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Do Students Dream of Electric Teachers?

Last week’s post briefly touched on how technological advances are providing new data protection challenges. Earlier this month, the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) showed the world the new smart devices we can expect to see filtering…
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Your Organisation and the Prisoner of Ransomware

We don’t usually comment on cybersecurity stories but the breaking news of the issues at Travelex (as reported by the BBC) made me think about the potential loss of access to critical information in an educational setting.  From the…
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GDPR New Year's Resolutions

The UK government has not had a fantastic start to the year. The New Year’s honours list, a list of individuals receiving awards on New Year’s Day, was mistakenly posted with personal contact details of over a thousand people. While the…
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Santa Claus reading a list on a scroll. The background is grey with snowflakes.

Has GDPR Stolen Christmas?

The time has come. Tinsel is up, chestnuts are roasting, and Santa is preparing his “Naughty or Nice list”. However, in this time of tradition, should we be thinking of the new data protection laws? Is St Nick in breach of the GDPR? Well,…
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AI in Education: A Brave New World?

A report published last week by career focused social network LinkedIn, identified the “Emerging Jobs” of 2020 in the UK. The report, which can be found here, looks at the roles that are experiencing significant growth. At number one…
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How to avoid the winter blues…

While the Christmas holidays are tantalisingly close, many schools are struggling with the norovirus outbreak that is sweeping across the country. It got us thinking about the way that winter can leave us feeling washed out, both physically…
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Data Controllers and Data Processors; Who’s who?

When you talk about data protection all day, every day, it’s easy to assume that everyone else does the same. Some of the terms and names used when referring to the new GDPR are not as clearly defined as they could be. So, this week we are…
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Careless Talk Causes Breaches

Careless Talk Causes Breaches

...(and can be costly too!)   GDPR is not normally associated with parties, but recently I heard the end of a conversation about an office Christmas party and it set me thinking about the impact that a misplaced sentence can have.…
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How the Department for Education ran into trouble with the ICO

Being as clear as mud when it comes to Data Protection A key principle of data protection is transparency. You must be upfront about what you plan to do with personal data. A failure to be transparent has recently brought the Department…
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GDPR Problems Most People Are Facing

Are you facing the same GDPR problems as most? We asked a number of both Data Protection Officers and GDPR Leads in Education what the most common GDPR problems they come across are, interestingly, most of the answers were the same, so we thought…
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The latest position of Brexit and GDPR…

Wednesday 23rd October 2019 Following on from our latest update last week, ‘How Brexit will affect GDPR’, as always with Brexit, there is another twist in the tail. In the increasing febrile corridors of Westminster, the latest set of…
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Schoolboy branded ‘Harry2’ to comply with Data Protection

With the ‘Harry2’ story recently hitting the headlines, we ask, how far do Schools really need to take data protection? Newhey Community Primary School have branded Harry Szlatoszlavek with a number 2 as his surname, so they can differentiate…
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Brexit GDPR

Deal or No Deal; How Will Brexit Affect GDPR?

Among the political turmoil as we approach the deadline of the 31st October for leaving the European Union, data protection is now being mentioned. Some schools have received guidance about actions that may need to be taken. The essentials…
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Documenting Data Breaches

Documenting Data Breaches Why paper and spreadsheets may not be enough… A Breach Scenario You’ve experienced a breach where information was sent to the wrong person. During the investigation it became clear that the person whose…
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data breaches

Managing Data Breaches

Data Breaches Happen How will you deal with one?   Breaches come in many shapes, sizes, and severities. It’s critical to recognise that an integrity breach with a single inaccurate word can be as serious as a classic confidentiality…
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Sentry System - Updates

Summer Updates! With our brand, we didn’t want to completely change the GDPR Sentry our customers know and love, so we made some minor improvements instead, and wanted to share them with you! Can you spot any new features on our website? As…
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DPO

Appointed DPO? But How much do you really know?

Since 2017, Schools, Trusts and Colleges have been bombarded with stories about the requirements and risks of failing to comply with GDPR. The mass of information around the internet can seem daunting even overwhelming, but we are here to help…
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Why Schools Should Do Their Homework Too

With so much confusion and little understanding around GDPR, we were always expecting some interesting headlines. This week, The BBC reported how a local authority in Sweden incurred a large fine, after trialling facial recognition…
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Back to school

New Term, New Data, New Risks?

We are all guilty of shuddering a little when hearing the words ‘GDPR’, right? This is especially true when facing the beginning of the new academic year. The maze of legislation, the do’s and don’ts of data, what to do when a data…
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Sentry matches the requirements of the ICO

Our survey said......

It's now less than four months until enforcement of the GDPR begins. You'd imagine that every now knows about the regulation even if they're not totally clear about the impact. On Tuesday of this week (24th January), the Department for Digital,…
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Here comes the Data Protection Bill

On Wednesday 17th January, the Data Protection Bill completed its journey through the House of Lords and headed back to the Commons. This means it’s heading toward the last stages before it becomes law. Over the last few weeks I’ve been…
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Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Welcome in the GDPR You know what it’s like, the New Year celebrations are done and its back the realities of work. Part of that reality for 2018 is the enforcement of the GDPR that starts on the 25th May. You’re probably…
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Get the training you need with GDPR Sentry services

GDPR Envy: Data protection across the pond

Among all the questions about the impact of the GDPR, it’s interesting to see another perspective on concerns about personal data. This comes from consumers in the USA, a country with some mixed attitudes toward privacy in general. From a…
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With the GDPR the Devil is in the details

Mention the UK and the EU right now you’ll almost certainly hear about Brexit.  Organisations pondering life outside of the EU may be forgiven for not being totally up to date with the details of the GDPR. Take a journey back in time with…
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GDPR Sentry can help you fill the knowledge gap

Should you have a DPO?

The DPO, or Data Protection Officer, is a role that has been discussed at length as the GDPR has moved from concept to reality. The DPO is responsible for: Informing the organisation on its GDPR obligations Monitoring that compliance …
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