Data breaches seem to be part and parcel of the contemporary business world, particularly as technology improves and hackers become increasingly sophisticated in their approach. Companies also have to be wary of the way in which they handle data internally, as several high-profile deliberate or accidental breaches have occurred as a result of employee behaviours.
We saw an example of this last year when the Court of Appeal in the UK upheld a judgement against the Morrisons supermarket chain following a leak of sensitive payroll data back in 2014. Whilst this information was deliberately published online by a disgruntled employee, the court found that the brand failed to safeguard their employee’s data effectively and was therefore liable for the breach.
With this in mind, it’s important that your business takes steps to safeguard internal payroll protocols and prevent such breaches from happening in the future. But what steps can be taken to achieve this objective?
How GDPR has Already Helped Brands to Protect their Data
Interestingly, companies have already been given a helping hand as a result of the GDPR initiative, which requires businesses to adhere to uniform data protection and management standards established by the EU.
Whilst complying with this new standard has proved challenging for businesses, it’s also extremely beneficial and not only because non-compliance can cost up to $20 million (or 4% of annual global turnover) in fines.
In fact, one of the main benefits of GDPR compliance is that requires businesses to enhance their internal and external cybersecurity. Most firms have strived to develop a security-conscious workflow as a result of the GDPR regulations introduced in April this year, which in turn has placed data privacy at the front and centre of their commercial operations.
The cost of establishing such a workflow and introducing more stringent cybersecurity protections also pales in comparison with non-compliance fines, so it’s an investment that pays undoubted dividends over time.
GDPR compliance also improves the data and payroll management processes operated by your business, ensuring that your company’s most sensitive information is protected at all times.
With a more efficient management system, you can also minimise the amount of data that you collate and store this far more securely.
What Other Steps can you Take to Reduce the Risk of Payroll Breaches?
In order to aid GDPR compliance and take further steps towards safeguarding your sensitive payroll data, you should also consider partnering with an expert technology provider.
Take Moorepay, for example, which provides managed payroll services to companies throughout the UK. Not only does this type of managed service include accurate reporting systems and in-depth payroll insights, but it also comes with in-built security benefits that automatically safeguard your information.
One of these is the fact that your company data will be locked down and stored securely in national UK centres.
This ensures that your employees’ information is safe and secure at all times, as it’s far harder for hackers (or even disgruntled employees) to access data from centralised servers.
