Stevenage, Peterborough and East Hertfordshire Councils adopt Crossword Cybersecurity Plc’s Rizikon Assurance to secure GDPR Compliance

Crossword Cybersecurity plc, has announced that Stevenage Borough Council, Peterborough City Council and East Hertfordshire District Council (‘the Councils’), will use Rizikon Assurance to manage compliance with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) with their suppliers and for wider information governance.

GDPR compliance

GDPR makes many requirements of organisations, including taking adequate steps to ensure data is both encrypted and anonymised, so that in the event of a breach, the data cannot be exploited. Infringements under GDPR can lead to fines of €20 million, or 4% of annual global turnover for an organisation.

Data breaches can be accidental, through the loss of a laptop for example, or as a result of an intentional breach or cyber-attack

With a combined residential population of over 430,000, the Councils have a duty to ensure that the personal information of all residents is adequately protected against the risk of data breach, either by the Councils themselves or the third-party suppliers and agencies with which they work. Data breaches can be accidental, through the loss of a laptop for example, or as a result of an intentional breach or cyber-attack. 

GDPR risk exposure

Using Rizikon Assurance, the Councils will improve the process and accuracy of securing third party assurance. This will support compliance with GDPR, and establish a way to manage on-going assurance checks when needed at regular intervals. Additionally, the Councils will be in a position to identify GDPR risk exposure across their supplier portfolio, so that remedial action can be taken to improve the protection of citizen data.

Jake Holloway, Director responsible for Rizikon Assurance, commented, “The role of every public service organisation is to serve its citizens, often holding personal information about them on many sensitive topics such as health, benefits and education. With that comes the responsibility of ensuring that information is protected, especially when it needs to be shared with partner organisations.”

Rizikon Assurance

Jake adds, “Rizikon Assurance will help any organisation dramatically improve the speed and reliability of its third-party assurance processes, covering areas such as GDPR, health & safety, the Modern Slavery Act and any other requirements that they may have.  It moves third party assurance from a siloed and reactive activity, to a connected, proactive continuous process that delivers a complete view of third-party risk.”