GDPR Compliant Secure Enterprise Messaging

With GDPR taking effect May 25, 2018, GDPR-compliant Enterprise messaging is no longer a recommendation for the enterprises doing business in Europe – it’s a necessity.

About GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU. The regulation was adopted on 27 April 2016. It becomes enforceable from 25 May 2018 after a two-year transition period and, unlike a directive, it does not require national governments to pass any enabling legislation, and is thus directly binding and applicable.

Key Changes Under GDPR

• Personal Privacy: Individuals will have the right to access, correct errors, erase, export, transfer and object to processing of their personal data.
• Controls and Notifications: Enterprises will need to protect personal data using appropriate security (right from the design of the system), notify authorities of any breaches, obtain appropriate consents for processing data and keep records detailing data processing.
• Transparent Policies: Enterprises are required to provide clear notice of data collection, outline processing purposes and use cases and define data retention and deletion policies. The personal data cannot be exported outside of EU.
• Administration Enterprises will need to employ a Data Protection Officer, train privacy personnel and employees, audit and update data policies and create and manage compliant vendor contracts.

Need for a GDPR Compliant Secure Enterprise Messaging

With these key changes coming in place, it is evident that enterprises doing business in EU would need to take appropriate measures to protect the data of their customers and stakeholders. With the proliferation of smart phone and more and more enterprises allowing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), enterprises must be more vigilant about their communication – both internal as well as external. Several studies have shown that a large number of employees use consumer-grade messaging apps to communicate official information, which can be a huge risk for the enterprises. This can lead to data breaches, privacy breaches and above all may end up inviting hefty penalties under the GDPR regulations. It becomes inevitable for the enterprises to look for an alternative – A GDPR Compliant Secure Enterprise Messaging App.

Features of GDPR Compliant Secure Enterprise Messaging

When choosing a solution that is the right fit for the organization and which complies to GDPR regulations, it’s important to know the key features required for the messaging solutions:

• The messaging solution does not store/export data outside the EU.
• The solution does not store the device address book of the user.
• The solution gives full transparency in its privacy policy and terms how personal data is used, processed and stored.
• If personal data is necessary to provide the messaging service, then it should be pseudonymized and encrypted as far as possible.
• The meta data should not be stored unless it is required for specific features of the messaging solution (e.g. multi-device synchronization, message archiving)
• The solution should have been designed right from the start with the inclusion of strong data protection.
• A business and its employees must give the solution a clear and affirmative consent to the processing of personal data.
• The solution should allow enterprises to configure policies to protect sensitive personal data and information and prevent accidental disclosure.
• The solution has audit logs and ensures record keeping requirements.
• The solution allows to transfer the messaging data to other services.
• The solution needs to inform its customers and users without undue delay and within 72 hours of any data breach.

NetSfere: Your GDPR Compliant Secure Messaging Solution

As an industry leader in secure enterprise communications, NetSfere provides GDPR compliant secure messaging solutions for enterprises. An enterprise-class messaging service from Infinite Convergence Solutions, this secure messaging solution enables providers to effortlessly comply with administrative, physical and technical safeguards of the Security Rule and other Data Protection requirements mandated by GDPR.

To learn more about GDPR secure messaging contact NetSfere or sign up for a free trial today.