With technology ever advancing and opportunities for data breaches in arm’s reach without the right protection, it’s important to know how your business’ data will be stored. But will your data be safe in a virtual office? Find out more about virtual office data safety below.
What is a virtual office?
A virtual office is a service that can enable businesses owners to work remotely. This can be beneficial to employees and owners alike – as this service will often provide a wide selection of business functions which can be accessed through the internet. The virtual office service allows business owners to have an established registered office address while not having to contend with the rent prices for a central location. Learn more about what virtual offices are from our guide.
Find out more information on our virtual office packages today from Grosvenor House.
How to keep my data safe
According to many ot cyber security companies, with cyber and data security being a top priority to the majority of businesses today, it’s important to feel secure and safe when you trust your data with an outside source, such as a virtual office provider. That’s why it’s wise to get clued up on virtual office data, safety how your data ist stored and how it complies with GDPR. There is also the finserv cloud compliance solution that can help with keeping hackers away.
What information do you need to give your virtual office provider?
Of course, setting up a service with a virtual office provider will involve giving out some of your basic personal information. Examples of the information you’ll need to give to your virtual office provider include:
- Proof of identification
- First and last name
- Telephone number
- Email address
- Alternative address
- Payment details
This list is not exhaustive, and more information may be required – but this is mainly to ensure you are who you say you are, and your business is legit.
How should virtual office providers store and use your data?
Here at Grosvenor House, we take office data security very seriously. May 2018 saw huge changes for GDPR meaning that the way companies stored your data were changing – and all businesses are now legally obliged to adhere to these new rules to avoid penalisation. So, what has changed?
All UK virtual office providers are now required to undergo a risk analysis and develop organisational policies, physical and technical measures to identify and avoid data security risks.
Companies are encouraged to deploy reasonable security measures, such as pseudonymisation and encryption, to ensure they are protecting client data. The data subject must be explicitly informed at the point of data collection what their data will be used for and who will have access to it.
Most virtual office providers in the UK should have a designated Data Protection Officer who is responsible for overseeing GDPR compliance and ensuring that your data is as secure as possible at all times.
Not sure if your office provider is GDPR-compliant? Reading any virtual office provider’s privacy statement will allow you to understand whether or not they abide by the rules of GDPR.
What more can you do to protect your data?
While Grosvenor House is working hard to protect your business’ data security, there are certain responsibilities that fall on the business owner, too. Protecting the data of your customers and clients is imperative – and there are ways to protect your data that you should abide by. It’s important to fulfil the same obligations as your virtual office provider in order to ensure the terms of data protection are being met.
Simple ways to protect your data include:
- Passwords – a password-protected laptop and passwords on mobile devices are a simple but important way of protecting your data. These shouldn’t be saved on shared devices (such as computers situated in a virtual office or coworking spaces).
- Network protections – ensure you’re up to speed on the network protections your virtual office provider has in place, and any recommendations you should follow as a client.
- Sending data – need to send a file over to a client? Or transmit data to another decide? Do so by using an encryption service in case this is intercepted unlawfully by a third party. As a company, it’s important to produce a privacy policy for employees to follow – regardless of company size – so that data can be shared safely with your clients.
Ensure you’re confident you’re paired with a GDPR-compliant organisation with Grosvenor House – don’t settle for subpar service and mediocre cybersecurity. We’re here to ensure you get the best out of your business as you can, whilst protecting your office data security every step of the way. Get in touch with us today to find out more information about your next virtual office and how we take virtual office data safety to the next level.