How to Protect Personal Data of Employees

Human resource departments possess access to vast amounts of personal data on current and former employees. Therefore, it's vital that they carefully consider how this data is collected, stored, and accessed.

HR managers need to familiarize themselves with privacy regulations and implement best practices to keep employee data secure. Here are four essential steps:.

Know What You Have

Human resources departments collect a great deal of sensitive employee data, such as medical records, salary details and social security numbers. HR professionals need to keep this data private in order to avoid legal complications and foster an ideal working environment; this can be achieved by creating policies for managing this information and offering training on how to avoid cyberattacks.

One of the primary issues associated with HR data is its vulnerability to being stolen by hackers. To best safeguard this data, keep it secure and keep backup copies ready in case something unexpected arises that threatens it. Furthermore, regularly assessing and auditing it is key in order to identify any threats or vulnerabilities to ensure its protection.

First and foremost, it's crucial that your organization understands what type of data it possesses and where it resides. Assess any legacy systems containing sensitive information that need updating before setting policies governing what can and cannot be disclosed and who has access to such information.

As soon as an employee departs the company, having a plan in place can help minimize risks such as them leaving with access to systems that they could exploit for future gain.

Additionally, it can be advantageous to establish a system that allows employees to access their own data independently without needing an administrator to login and grant them access. This can be especially helpful for remote employees (opens in new tab) who may not always adhere to the same security standards as their coworkers in-office.

As well as tools, it is equally vital to cultivate a robust security culture within an organization. While this may prove challenging, its success can help safeguard employee privacy by training staff on potential risks associated with identity theft and security breaches, as well as how best to keep personal data protected and what steps individuals can take individually to stay protected.

Encryption

HR teams manage sensitive employee information, including Social Security numbers and salaries, health care and retirement plan details, background checks, etc. If this data falls into the wrong hands it could easily be stolen; with more companies collecting and analyzing this data to analyze it properly the need to protect employee privacy has only grown more urgent.

Accordingly, many governments now have laws in place to safeguard employee data. These regulations impose stringent requirements on organizations that collect it as well as providing clear rights over what can be stored therein. HR departments must adapt their data storage systems accordingly in order to stay compliant with these new regulations.

One way of doing this is with encryption technology, which scrambles data during transfer so it cannot be read without using a decryption key to unlock it. This can help protect employee information against hacker-attacks or any unwanted individuals trying to gain entry.

HR professionals should play a greater role in their company's cybersecurity strategy. Breaches can have severe repercussions for any organization - this may include reputation damage, regulatory authority fines, and the cost associated with rectifying the breach itself. HR professionals must play an active role in shaping this approach to cybersecurity within their companies.

HR data must meet specific compliance requirements that differ from other forms of business data, including local and international data protection laws that outline what amounts and types of personal data must be stored as well as how that information can be accessed and utilized by individuals within an organization.

HR departments should develop a specific policy that details the specific security requirements needed for HR data. This could follow the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability triad approach of data protection. This ensures all of an organization's stored information is encrypted and only accessible by authorized users; additionally it should cover requirements such as having all data backed up and ready in case of disaster or breach.

Categorization

Utilizing technology to organize data and make it easily accessible enables HR departments to quickly locate documents and access information without searching through physical files. This also makes creating reports and analyzing employee trends simpler - something which may not be possible when information is stored physically.

Organising employee records and restricting who has access is another way of protecting HR data. HR professionals should create a policy outlining best practices for safeguarding employee information and proprietary business data, which can then be used as guidelines when training employees on this data or coming in contact with it. 

With cyberattacks increasing (according to Forbes), malware attacks increased 358% year over year while ransomware attacks rose 430%; HR professionals must adopt a defense-in-depth strategy in order to secure crucial business data and prevent further cyber attacks from arising - something HR professionals must do immediately in order to protect business success and their own company from cyber attacks resulting in ransomware attacks this year alone!

HR departments should make sure they comply with state and federal laws that regulate how personal data is collected and utilized, such as those related to EEOC and Department of Labor requirements or keeping certain types of documents for an extended period. This is particularly relevant given that states like California now mandate companies adapt their online systems in response to new consumer privacy laws.

Human Resources leaders must also remain aware of how new regulations could have an effect on employee data privacy, including determining which data falls within GDPR's scope and considering if and why designating a Data Protection Officer makes sense. Furthermore, HR leaders must document how legitimate bases for processing individuals' personal information are balanced against their privacy rights.

HR departments play an integral part in protecting employee data privacy. Therefore, HR should play an active role in GDPR compliance teams; those unsure how best to approach this task may seek expert advice from qualified consultants.

Authorized Access

HR departments possess and store vast amounts of personal information on current, former and prospective employees ranging from contact details and salary records to background checks, medical and financial data that could prove damaging if it falls into the wrong hands. Therefore it is vital that HR departments take measures to safeguard this sensitive data.

HR must ensure that access to sensitive data is limited only to people who require it for work purposes, this may involve restricting electronic access through firewalls, intrusion detection systems and encryption of files as well as restricting physical access through locks on doors and windows, separation of sensitive documents from company records or restricting entry through HR departments - these can all help ensure data remains safe.

HR should educate their teams on what to watch out for when it comes to cyberattacks and privacy laws, in order to avoid falling prey to breaches that could have devastating repercussions for both their company and reputation.

Establishing adequate security measures is paramount to any business, but especially crucial for HR departments. They manage a significant amount of employee data that must remain protected at all costs; taking proactive steps such as training their teams will give HR confidence that their information is safeguarded while upholding company reputation.

An increase in cyber attacks makes data protection increasingly essential. To learn more about how Security can assist your efforts to safeguard organization data, schedule a demo today.