Data Protection And Working From Home

[237SJ]

Does anyone here wonder how safe their data is due to the working from home culture?

[JimF]

Surely, it's more how safe the company's data is...

[bednobs]

no, never thought about it. i work in a *very* secure industry and we can work from home, using our company's VPN on our laptops

[woofgang]

can you give an example of when it might be a problem?

[237SJ]

I`m thinking more about in a domestic situation. You have your laptop/screen open. Nip off the the loo or for a drink. Family member walks past the open screen and hey presto - you have breached the data protection act. It must happen.

[bednobs]

not if you lock your screen. i dont understand why someone wouldn't?

[237SJ]

It would be nice to think someone wouldn't but..

[JimF]

Completely agree with bednobs here.

Also, supposing a family member DID see something on your laptop which contains CID, what are they actually going to do with it?

[237SJ]

It doesn't matter what they were going to do with it. The operator has breached the data protection act

[THECORBYLOON]

Do you need a card to use your company's system?

When you were at work, what did you do when you left your desk?

[Barmaid]

Completely agree. Mr BM and I have always worked from home. Both of us are in sensitive occupations. But I don't enter his study and he doesn't enter mine. If i work outside he can't see the screen anyway without his glasses and he doesn't usually walk behind me. I use a headset for calls. He doesnt but he speaks in a language I don't understand.

If I am attending a sensitive matter where I have to certify that no one else is present, I stick a rude note on the door.

I also had my cleaner sign a confidentiality agreement.

[douglas9401]

^ All done and dusted then. :-)

[237SJ]

I remember going to see a Manager at work years ago. She was sitting at her computer and ran off to get a sandwich because she was hungry. She left her computer screen open and I could read everything that was on there regarding a colleague who had gone sick from work. I refrained from telling her that she could have got into an awful lot of trouble about that. Both employee and employer can be prosecuted for a data breach.

[Barmaid]

My screen locks after 2 mins of inactivity. It's about respect though. He respects that he can't nosy in my stuff and the same goes the other way. During the day we are at work. We might be married and living in the same house but we are very good about respecting boundaries.

[237SJ]

I really don't think that Gov personnel should be working from home but they seem to be. Mistakes can be made and there is nobody to cross refer.

[jno]

237SJ, yes, when I worked in an office nobody closed their screen down while going to the loo (etc) and just once in a while some prankster would send out messages from their screen. There weren't any orders to secure screens when away and it never seriously mattered, but I would have thought employers today were stricter. Alternatively you'd just have to have total trust in your partner, like Barmaid.

[237SJ]

Yes, employers are stricter because the laws have been tightened up.

[237SJ]

I phoned HMRC the other day. There is a recorded message to say that you might hear strange noises in the background while you are talking to them (dogs barking etc) because they are working from home. Fine, and they answered my question. My sister phoned them and it turned out that they had sent her name, NI number, notice of coding and details of her pension figures to a random address 200 miles away. She is quite worried now. I don't blame her.

[bednobs]

that can happen working from an office too

[237SJ]

That's OK then.

[JimF]

Of course it's not OK, but you're surely not suggesting that it happened purely because of home working...