The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is reminding organisations that they remain responsible for personal data even when outsourced to cloud providers, warning that infringements can incur six-figure fines.
A survey commissioned by the ICO shows that the majority of UK adults are ignorant of cloud computing, with 71 per cent unaware that social media uses cloud storage to store personal data, and 54 per cent failing to realise that by hosting their information on cloud servers, it could be being stored anywhere in the world.
ICO has created a guide to cloud data protection, reiterating that businesses need to ensure robust contracts and policies must be in place.
“The law on outsourcing data is very clear. As a business, you are responsible for keeping your data safe. You can outsource some of the processing of that data, as happens with cloud computing, but how that data is used and protected remains your responsibility,” says ICO policy advisor Dr Simon Rice.
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