The Aftermath of The Privacy Shield

In replacement to the Safe Harbor Framework, the new pact agreed by the EU and US is called the Privacy Shield. The regulation consist of improved and new terms, any flagged problems will be addressed by the Federal Trade Commission who work with the European data privacy watchdogs. The EU and US will also conduct an annual review to check the new system is working properly. However, after the invalidation of Safe Harbor and the few short months that Privacy Shield was formed and passed, there are still concerns.

What Are the Concerns?

Despite the agreement in place for the Department of Commerce to be brought in to regularly monitor and maintain the surveillance level that takes place in the US, the concern is the possible risk that the requirements to police thousands of companies may demand many more resources. Should resources become stretched, many businesses could forego adequate monitoring and users’ data could be at unnecessary risk.

Another concern that arose up was the Privacy Shield not being as safe, considering the idea was thought of quickly. InfoWorld, an information technology business, noted that the Privacy Shield “has more to do with shielding U.S. companies from EU legal enforcement action than shielding EU users from privacy violations”. If this is true, then being with a non-EU service provider won’t be as safe as being with a UK based one, as the UK are regulated by the Information Commissioners Office. The ICO uphold information rights in the public interest, cover legislation including data protection and the freedom of information, privacy and electronic communications.

How The Privacy Shield Affects Businesses Looking Into Chat Box For Websites

Using a UK chat box for website means your data is stored and safe within the UK. There is a potential for non-EU providers to store data outside the EU and place customer information at risk should Privacy Shield become invalidated like Safe Harbor.

Click4Assistance is a UK provider for a chat box for websites, regulated by ICO and we conform to their legislation. Security is very important to us and is our top priority when working with our customers. Clients include financial institutions that must adhere to FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) guidelines and regulations. We focus on:

• Security

  Connectivity

• Infrastructure

As a UK based company with our data centre in London conforming to ISO 9001 and 27001 standards, internal security is always monitored, tested, reviewed and updated, ensuring the following aspects are addressed:

• Physical and Remote access

• System monitoring

• Data storage and encryption

• Business Continuity

• Disaster Recovery

Account information including chat transcripts are secured over https/SSL using 256bit encryption (the same level of encryption you would expect on any checkout page). Our standard chat data retention policy is for the lifetime of your account, unless information is required to be exported or purged based on your own internal policies. Databases are constantly backed up and replicated to stand-by servers- which are also based in the UK - on a transactional, differential and full basis.

UK companies need to comply to ensure their customers’ data is safe. Using a UK company means the information will be held safely within UK boundaries. For more information about working with a UK provider and implementing a chat box for website, contact theteam@click4assistance.co.uk