Rudolph will be preparing his usual Christmas email to be sent to all the hardworking elves and Santa’s suppliers to wish them a Merry Christmas from his fellow reindeers and Mr & Mrs Claus.  But what does he need to consider from GDPR while sending his email?  The team at MJD wanted to give Rudolph some guidance and advice to keep everyone’s data safe.

Rudolph can still send a Christmas email to all his intended recipients; he just needs to consider the content in his email.  If he wants to include direct marketing and the emails are sent to individuals, then he would need to ensure he has the individuals’ consent to receive this type of communication.  However, if he just wants to wish everyone Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year without any marketing included this will be fine.

Another important email feature that Rudolph should make use of is the Bcc box.  This will mean that he doesn’t give anyone’s data or contact information to anyone else in the email.  It is a very simple function, but a very important one for a Christmas Wishes email.  This advice should allow Rudolph to send a successful Christmas message for Santa and the other reindeer.  If you have any other questions around GDPR and cyber security, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team here at MJD.

Santa has a very important responsibility with his Christmas Lists, as they contain a lot of personal data!  This means they come under GDPR because of the personal identifiers held on the list.  So, what advice would we give Santa if he came to MJD for IT support on keeping his Christmas Lists safe and secure, let’s jump in:

• Ensure that he has them stored electronically in a location that is backed up regularly.
• Ensure that only the elves who need access to the lists have access to the lists and review permissions every year.
• Only store the data he needs to on the individuals on his Christmas List and clearly state why he is keeping the data.
• Ensure that the lists are held securely and adequate protection measures put in place.

So, for Santa to do this we’d recommend the following:

• Layered security software to protect all devices on his network (antivirus alone is no longer sufficient).
• A robust back up system, such as a Datto.
• Have permission levels and security groups setup for users on the network.
• Review the data each year and check that he still needs to keep the data and if so for how long (For Example – scrooge should be removed from the list).
• Review his processes for data requests, right to erasure requests and correcting data held (For Example – if the grinch wants his data removed then he can ask and it will be done.)

We here at MJD are always happy to help Santa with his IT support requests to ensure he can concentrate on his core business activities of delivering presents to all the lucky girls and boys.  If you would also like some advice on GDPR and cyber security please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team here at MJD.

We all love to get the most for our money, but we want to highlight the potential dangers that lurk within “Black Friday Deal” emails.  We encourage everyone to exercise just as much caution, if not more, before you click on any link within these emails.  Our previous blog posts on phishing emails and staying safe within your emails are linked here: The silent threat in your Inbox & Gone Phishing!

We urge everyone to remember, these emails are just as likely as any other type of email to be spoofed by cyber criminals to get you to click on the link.  They may even allow you to buy a product, albeit a counterfeit product, to get your details and your money.  If you do receive an email with a deal you’d really like to purchase from a trusted shop, try typing the website straight into the web address bar in your browser and finding the product that way.  Then you don’t have to worry about clicking on a potentially malicious link.  In the past twelve months alone, the Active Cyber Defence programme has removed 113000 malicious URLs from fake online shops where consumers ended up with counterfeit goods or nothing at all.

The National Cyber Security Centre offer some great advice on keeping yourself safe while online purchasing this Black Friday here.

They offer some key top tips such as:

–              Be selective of where you shop

–              Only provide necessary information

–              Use a secure and protected payment method

–              Keep your accounts secure

If you do receive a suspicious-looking email over this festive period, forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk for the NCSC and the City of London Police to include it within their Suspicious Email Reporting Service.

As always, if you think you have fallen victim to a scam email or phishing email please don’t hesitate to contact the team here at MJD to help you get yourself or your business secure again.  And if you find any great black Friday deals let us know too!

As a Cyber Essentials accreditation body here at MJD, we always highly recommend our clients go through the process of Cyber Essentials and always encourage clients to take the next step in their security journey to Cyber Essentials Plus as well.  But, we often get asked why they should take these steps to become accredited, so today let’s explain our reasoning behind the recommendations of becoming a Cyber Essentials accredited company.

The process of achieving Cyber Essentials accreditation should be viewed as a method of checking your current work practices and identifying areas that need improvement to achieve the accreditation.  The process of becoming accredited acts as your checklist to ensure and know that your company is hitting a certain level of cyber security protection for you and your clients.  It may identify areas that you didn’t even realise were related to cyber security.  In this sense it is a valuable exercise to go through to help identify and then resolve weaknesses in your security.  This is then used every year when you reassess to know that you are still working to the same standard.

Through becoming accredited you have a standardised level that any client can recognise and immediately understand how secure your setup is.  It can greatly help when tendering for bids with potential clients as you can answer any cyber security questions with your accreditation rather than trying to explain and demonstrate the policies and technology you have in place.

Another benefit of the Cyber Essentials accreditation is that it comes with Cyber Insurance which is an added benefit, aside from all that we’ve discussed above.  We believe at MJD that this is an investment in your business that will not only benefit you now but in the future as well.  The peace of mind that going through this process will also generate is a benefit that has no monetary value but will put to rest some of the worry that comes with the threats out in the cyber world.

If you have any questions about this process or are interested in getting started on your Cyber Essentials journey please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Team here at MJD.