Have you ever come across the word GDPR? Or data protection/ data privacy? If you know already, great! But if you are unaware of the tiny but critical bits of this rule, then read to find how astutely important it is in the present time in Dubai market and globally.

Every company that deals with customer information must know about this new policy on data protection in Dubai and European Union. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the legislation enacted by the European Parliament and the European Council (EC) in 2018. The legislation is devised to secure the personal data of individuals.

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) enacted Data Protection law no. 5 in 2020. This new law has replaced the DIFC Law no. 1 of the year 2007. This new DP law is somewhat similar to the GDPR. It reflects many guidelines similar to the European Union’s GDPR. We will discuss in reference to the GDPR since the new DP law is based on it.

Table of contents

Is your company GDPR ready?

The GDPR applies to the Gulf-based companies, also to Dubai markets, and UAE businesses companies in possession of personal data of European and non-European citizens. Under this new and up-to-date law, personal information of individuals like health reports, genetic information, and similar content must be protected.

So if your company complies with the GDPR or the new DP law of Dubai then you must take measures to protect the personal data. More importantly, you must be thorough with the rules and regulations associated with data privacy and protection.

Understanding Personal Data

The new rules under GDPR apply to the personal information that contains details of individuals. But what is Personal Data, and why is it so confidential? Well, the data such as the DNA of individuals, mental health reports, and overall health reports fall into the category of personal data. The collection of IP addresses of internet users also comes under personal data. Any data that could cause financial, social, and economical losses to the individuals must be protected under all circumstances.

Features of GDPR/ DP Law (DIFC)

  • Appointment of Data Protection Officer (DPO) to process the personal information collected in a company and regularize it.
  • Establishment of Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) for companies to consider assessing at the beginning of a new project.
  • Enactment of stricter rules for using personal data and consent of the data provider.
  • A limitation of the retention period of personal information of any individual until the purpose is served.
  • Introducing information technology methods to regulate the protection and privacy of data.
  • Regulation of companies that supply data controllers and data processors.

Why is GDPR necessary

The regulation of personal data provides individuals the power to protect their information from mishandling. The rules employ better collection, storage, processing, and usage of data for different purposes.

Any breaches in data can cause legal actions and penalties against the companies, organizations, and individuals responsible for it. The heavy penalties of up to $24 million or 4% of the annual global turnover can be charged to companies.

Any misuse of data can severely affect the company’s reputation. It can lead to the loss of a heavy number of customers and their confidence in your business.

What is a data breach?

A data breach is the vulnerability of personal information to high risks of misuse. A data breach can occur due to loose ends in a company. The data controllers and data processors are the most liable bodies for any data theft. Mostly the breaches happen because of human mistakes. Most of them are due to infidelity by the employees and third-parties. Under the strict rules of GDPR, companies have the responsibility to report any data breaches to the Supervisory Authorities (SA). Any worrying data breach that could affect an individual‘s financial status, reputation, or confidentiality must be reported by the company within 72 hours of alertness. In failing to do so, you would have to pay 4% of your global turnover in a year or $24 million.

However, the penalty can vary. It depends on the seriousness of the breach and the size of your business value in the Dubai market.

Whom is GDPR for?

The GDPR is applicable to:

  • 1. All those companies that operate within the European Union and have branches and offices anywhere in the world are obliged to follow the GDPR instructions.
  • 2. Any company that offers services to European Union citizens has to abide by it
  • 3. Any company that has access to the citizens' data, especially the European citizens, have to comply with the legislation. The physical and geographical variations do not matter.
  • 4. Any company or organization which operates from a physical location within the European Union is obliged.

The DP law 2020 is applicable to:

All the companies incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) located at any part in the world involved in data processing.

Customer Rights under GDPR

If your company is under the GDPR jurisdictions and abides by all the regulations, then the customers possess the following rights due to the legislation.

  • 1. The right to information: This right grants individuals the power to enjoy transparency during their data processing.
  • 2. The right of access: This right allows individuals to know about the status of data under processing. They can demand confirmation on the data processing of their data.
  • 3. The right to deletion: This right can be exercised by individuals to request complete deletion or destruction of personal data. It is also called the right to be forgotten.
  • 4. The right to rectification: This right provides the power to individuals to correct their data at any point in time. The inaccuracies or incompleteness in data can be rectified under this lawful right.
  • 5. The right to portability: This right is exercised by individuals to collect their data and reuse it for their own purpose.
  • 6. The right to objection: This right empowers customers to object against any policy that they find unsuitable. Individuals can question digital marketing on their personal data.
  • 7. The right to decision-making: This right allows human interference/intervention in decision-making policies using the personal data of individuals. Any action or decision that could harm the reputation, status, or finances of an individual can be interrupted immediately.
  • 8. The right to restrict the process: This right gives the full power to individuals to stop the companies from storing their personal data and further processing for any purpose.

Legal consequences of a data breach

A data breach or data theft is a serious offense. The corporations operating on personal information exchange with customers and processing are prone to theft. If your company in Dubai is obliged to follow the GDPR guidelines, then you should try to enforce every possible security measure.

Any breach in data security obligations by the data processors can be fined up to $12 million or 2% of the global annual turnover.

However, a higher fine of $24 million or 4% of the global annual turnover can be imposed by the security regulators for data breaches.

The appropriate security measures depend on the recent cost of implementation, its scope, and context, the purpose of processing, and risks and vulnerabilities of the rights of data subjects.

In addition to the imposition of fines, the damages suffered by the data subjects would be compensated by the companies.

Who is a data controller?

Any organization, company, or individual, who, alone or with a group of people, make decisions on how data has to be processed and what purpose has to be fulfilled.

Who is a data processor?

A Data processor is a person, company, or individual, who, alone or with a group of people, processes the data on the behalf of the data controller.

For instance, if your company sells online products, a third party would host the online store, gather information, and process the customer payment details. In this scenario, your company is the data controller, and the host company is the data processor.

Both the data controller and the data processor can be sued for compensating and paying the fine. Compensation claims will have to be fulfilled by them even after paying the fine and vice versa.

The GDPR guidelines provide the right to the data subjects to take legal actions against data controllers or data processors along with making them pay the compensation for the damage they suffered due to breaches. A data processor is responsible for compensating for the damage caused only by processing.

Data controllers can claim money from data processors if they were partially or fully at fault. Similarly, data processors have the right to claim compensation from data controllers or other data processors involved in the damage.

As a result of this comply system, both the data processors and data controllers will work with obliged mind-sets with the terms and conditions for their liabilities.

The GDPR rules comply with both the data processors and data controllers. Data processors are equally responsible for a data breach as much as the data controllers remain legally responsible for any data breach caused by data processors.

EndoShred: The Ultimate Shredding Company for GDPR ready Dubai organizations

What is EndoShred?

EndoShred services is a secure and effective on-site shredding services located in Dubai, UAE. We are the best providers of protection to your business against any data breach and information misuse or theft.

We choose the most secure way to destroy all the confidential documents on the site using our high-speed shredding truck. Our super secure and safe paper shredding and recycling services at any location in the UAE are totally automated, fast, convenient, and environmentally friendly.

We not just shred papers into tiny pieces but also make sure that it is recycled and useful products are created. The hard drive with personal information/data can be securely destructed by our services. Other materials including media tape, electronic devices, or any other data containing storage devices will be destroyed using our efficient shredding service.

How we can save your time and money?

Money is time and time is money. With our services, you will realize this slang in practical ways. The fast and sustainable services by us at EndoShred save your time and the penalty money that you might have to pay in case of a data breach.

EndoShred offers your company the personalized services necessary for designing and implementing cost-effective and on-site shredding.

  • 1. The document shredding service by EndoShred is a unique and smart office service. The intelligently locked security consoles are fitted with fill-level sensors that alert the workers in your office about it getting filled and needing service.
  • The employees can drop in the unwanted confidential documents in the consoles. On getting filled, the consoles raise an alert. The trained and in-costume customer service officer will visit the office, collect the consoles, and safely shred them at your office premises using a high-speed mobile shredding truck service. You are welcome to watch this process happening right in front of your eyes. At the end of shredding, we provide a certificate of destruction stating 100% security and confirmation that the collected documents were destroyed.
  • 2. Depending on your workload and requirement, you can choose a shredding plan accordingly. We have shredding plans for a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule.
  • You can choose your plan depending on your convenience. Our trucks are available for that time and date that you provide for shredding. These tailored services will meet every level of security and accountability that you are looking for. The shredding consoles would be collected by our officer and be shredded within your office using the shredding truck. All this can occur depending on your availability and schedule.
  • 3. When we say that we save your money, we really mean to save every penny of yours. Our one-time shredding service will lead you to securely destroy all the unwanted paper-based documents most securely and cost-effectively. The one-time shredding is enough for getting rid of expired documents, a huge compilation of electronic media, overflowing hard disks, and much more. Clear the clutter, free the office space.
  • Allow room to welcome new files and confidential data essential to your company assets. Our mobile trading trucks are very powerful and fast. These will help in getting rid of up to 1.5 tonnes of paper within 60 minutes.
  • This way, you get rid of the unwanted papers and by fulfilling the Corporate Social Responsibility also get awarded with a yearly certificate of Environmental Stewardship, stating your positive contribution towards the environment. Isn’t it a deal perfect to seal by partnering with EndoShred!
  • 4. Paper and documents are undeniably the evident forms of junk. However, other materials that contain confidential data are hard drives, DVDs, backup tapes, and more. Companies often forget to destroy the data in these storage devices. Our material shredding service will help you in securely destroying every electronic device with critical data. With this service, you can save yourself from privacy breaches, and data theft. The more secure you and your services get, the more you save yourself from penalties. Our services will assure your business growth while safely doing the destruction task.

Why choose us in Dubai?

According to the Ponemon Institute 2015, the cost of a data breach in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are very disturbing. The total number of breaches in 2015 was approximately 29000.

The confidential information has been stolen too. The average cost of each such theft is around AED 448.60. The average data breach cost and lost business revenue are AED 13.96 million. The abnormal turnover of customers in 2015 and increased acquisition activities lead to a business loss of AED 6.25 million.

According to a report in 2016, UAE had topped the list of most employee data leaks. In fact, UAE was the region in the Middle East with the highest risk for information breach.

These stats and data are really concerning for companies dealing with an enormous number of personal data. All the data breaches, that happen, happen due to negligence. Human error causes 24% of breaches. It might come as a surprise but, 56% of breaches occur due to malicious insiders, employees, contractors, and some other rival organizations.

In such an alarming situation, trusting the people at work is also unworthy. To get rid of confidential data in the safest and secure workspace is impossible without the intervention of a third party. EndoShred is the Most Trusted and recommended shredding company in Dubai. We work independently to provide a full guarantee of proper disposition. The confirmation certificate at the end of the shredding process is the golden key for validation. The services are cost-effective, on-site, and reliable.

Every UAE company should contact us for saving themselves from data breach, information theft, leakage, and more similar data privacy issues.

Best practices to save your company from penalties

Before the GDPR system takes a toll on your company, make the environment and workspace customer friendly. Here are some of the best practices that you can bring into action as soon as possible.

Prepare Thorough Security Policy

First of all, you must understand the legislation carefully and then prepare a proper review of the privacy policies offered by your company.

Your policies should include details such as the type of data and the duration for which it remained secure. The methods of information destruction such as physical, electronically, and so on should also be there. The details on what was destroyed and what remains to undergo the destruction process.

Choose the Data Protection Officer (DPO)

Carefully appoint a person that takes care of the regularization and monitoring of data on a large scale. A person with adequate information and knowledge in the security department with technical information could serve this purpose. A person who checks and coordinates with the security team can provide healthy reports on the data breaches annually.

Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) enactment

These are very necessary to regulate data protection from the beginning of a job. The undertakings and risk assessments ensure to secure customer data to save you from future troubles. Introduce them as soon as possible to your organization and sit back to watch the smooth functioning.

Receive breach notification alerts

A breach of data privacy must get reported within 72 hours of occurrence. The earlier you are aware of a breach, the better for your company and prominence. Kindly develop methods to generate notifications in case of suspicious activities. Take quick actions as soon as you are notified about a breach and rectify the errors to prevent excessive damage.

Well-trained staff in data protection policies

Having the right set of staff with keen knowledge, skill set, and information about legislation and policies are fundamental to the success of your company. Appoint people who have a basic understanding of security policies and responsibilities that they adhere to. Managers, executives, and general workers should actively take part in prioritizing the protection of individual data and create a culture of a safe environment.

Appoint legal advisors

Speak to a specialist who is thorough with the data protection legislation and rules. A legal advisor, a lawyer, could help you in getting through this intransigent job of GDPR for your company. The consequences of poor regulation are the worst. Protect as soon as possible. Seek legal help when stuck with trouble or pieces of advice for preventing oneself from it.

Final words

In this write-up, we have briefly discussed the new and state-of-the-art policies regarding the privacy of personal data and protection from the data breach. The main is to inform the Dubai-based companies who deal with the customer personal data about these new norms and regulations. With the enactment of GDPR in the European Union and DP law in 2020 in the UAE and nearby regions, the processing and supervision of data is a serious business now.

Every company that falls under these policies and laws must fully prepare themselves for any consequences. Data breaches are widespread and easy to cause. Hence, you, being a smart manager or owner of the Dubai-based company, should take the wisest steps that work in favour of your company. We have mentioned the best practices that could help in establishing a secure workspace. Along with the tips, we have discussed how wonderfully beneficial is our EndoShred shredding company in Dubai.

We believe that your data privacy is our foremost concern. We make sure that the best services are available in the most secure environment. If you wish to save yourself from a grave penalty amount and the consequences of a data breach, you must do this. Immediately get in touch with EndoShred for shredding away the unwanted documents, data files, magnetic tapes, hard disks, and any other data holding items. A confirmation certificate stating 100% destruction shall be provided at the end of the procedure. Our customized services are according to your needs and schedule.

We believe in sustainable development, hence, send every bit of shreds for recycling. Useful consumer products are available for reuse. The yearly certificate that defines your massive contribution to the environment shall strengthen your eminence. It will also help in building trustworthy customers. We are available in every region near Dubai, UAE.

How EndoShred assists in Compliance to Privacy Laws?

We are one of the most reliable privacy organization in UAE. We provide information security and the destruction of confidential data. We protect your business against intrusions and theft by securely destroying the documents on-site in our high-speed shredding trucks.

We are available for shredding at any organisation in the UAE. Our convenient mechanism of destruction is trusted by hundreds of organizations in Dubai and nearby cities.

We are totally aware of the UAE privacy policies and penalties. Our trained employees know their jobs quite well. We work in accordance with the regulatory norms ensuring privacy protection. We are here to assist you through the entire process of document disposal in a lawful way.