The General Data protection Regulations (GDPR) will affect everyone. Even religious institutions. It comes into force on the 25th May 2018.
We have put together a really helpful GDPR introduction guide for you to read, here!
What does this mean for churches?
GDPR is all about strengthening the rights of the public. This could affect how you stay in touch with followers, through services such as baptisms, weddings and funerals.
However, this law wasn’t created to restrict your ability to communicate with others, more-so it is designed that the right people get your message.
Main points to be aware of:
If someone comes to you in need of these services, then there is legitimate interest already established; this means contacting a person about a wedding proceeding when they have registered interest with you is no issue.
However, if you were to further contact someone about charity events, then you need to allow them to “opt-out” of these communications.
If someone doesn’t want to communicate with you anymore, it isn’t the end of the world.
This video further explains how life event services are affected by GDPR:
Data protection for Parishes
There is a financial and reputational risk towards data breaches. In the case of one church, over 500,000 was taken in a cyber attack thanks to a compromised password. The best defence for the protection of your church is to be proactive with data security.
It’s recommended to change passwords on a yearly timescale. You can make yours more effective using a randomised password generator. To avoid writing them down on a piece of paper or failing to remember these complex passwords, RoboForm is a good password manager, avoiding the need to type them out every time.
Data Security for Parishes
Once you’ve updated and upgraded your systems you may be left with stacks of unneeded information. This is paper, hard-drives and anything that is “personally identifiable information”. Destroy anything you no longer need.
To help with this process, we offer a one-time or regular shredding service that will confidentially destroy any and all information you need getting rid of.
One-off shredding is recommended for those needing a sudden purge of unnecessary information.
Regular shredding service is perfect if you have a steady stream of information that needs shredding.
Click the shredded paper below to find out more.
