It is crucial to ensure that employees carry out their duties with in the law (Consumer data is not being protected). Breaches in the Data Protection Act are quickly becoming daily headline news. It is surprising that companies are still making such elementary mistakes, quite probably through poor staff education.

While it is not a requirement of the Data Protection Act to educate employees, education must be the first rule of data protection. Employees are on the frontline handling data; increasing staff awareness is essential to prevent breaches occurring. A survey that NETconsent conducted with the Federation Against Software Theft in June highlighted that more than 75 per cent of organisations do not have a process in place to test employee understanding of policies. By testing and monitoring employee understanding employers can benefit from identifying areas of weakness and address them before they create a problem.

For organisations that want to take this a step further, using regular reminders of key regulations to re-iterate important information refreshes employees' understanding and shifts it to the forefront of their minds. Employers must take note of the Information Commissioner's concerns as all organisations are at risk, not just those with publicised policy breaches. Organisations need to look at improving the processes now to avoid potentially costly pay-outs later.

Robin Saunders