{"id":6958,"date":"2022-01-26T20:04:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T20:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/26\/the-next-big-threat-to-email-marketing\/"},"modified":"2022-01-26T20:04:33","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T20:04:33","slug":"the-next-big-threat-to-email-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/26\/the-next-big-threat-to-email-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Next Big Threat To Email Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you want to scare yourself, run an online search with the criterion, \u2018data breach claims\u2019. You will find a long list of companies offering \u2018no-win no fee\u2019 with the question, \u2018Was your personal data leaked?\u2019 If you remember the PPI frenzy, it might concern you.<\/p>\n

\nThere are specifics in the search results, such as \u2018NHS data breach claim\u2019, and, despite the ICO not being able to award compensation, \u2018ICO data breach compensation\u2019. However, the ICO has a role to play in such matters. Without naming any companies, in November they fined one \u00a3125 million following a major data breach, which included payment card details. Rumours suggest a number of group-actions are being considered. Whether this is true or not is immaterial. The point is, it is possible.<\/p>\n

\nIt\u2019s a double-pronged threat to any SME with considerable data on email marketing list which might be seen as valuable to other interested parties. On the one hand, there are the regulators who are able \"Theto impose eye-watering fines, up to a percentage of gross turnover. That alone would be bad enough. Then there\u2019s the dreadful publicity associated with such fines.<\/p>\n

\nOn top of all that, we have the risk of considerably higher costs of civil actions for damages. If you look at individual payments awarded, some in the low thousands, it doesn\u2019t look particularly damaging. Even the awards for more serious breaches, the most frequently reported being \u00a312,500 each to two asylum seekers, you might think you could survive. Our problem is the sheer number of subscribers we have on our email marketing lists.<\/p>\n

\nIt\u2019s not a simple case of counting the number of subscribers who have had their data leaked in some way and then multiplying it by an average of \u00a37000 or so. It\u2019s a bit subtler than that. That said, their unpredictability is the only thing we can be sure of with civil courts.<\/p>\n

\nYou must protect not only your data but your company as well. The GDPR states that data should be, \u2018processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data . . . using appropriate technical or organisational measures.\u2019 It goes on to suggest, in pr\u00e9cis form, that there is no individual limit to each claim, and that circumstances surrounding the breach should be considered. Go to https:\/\/ico.org.uk\/for-organisations\/guide-to-data-protection\/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr\/security\/<\/a> for the full details. It is essential to read the ICO security pages.<\/p>\n

\nA conviction by the ICO for a data breach will ease the passage of compensation lawyers as most of their work would have been completed, although this can work for us. If we suffer a data breach and the ICO looks into it, after we\u2019ve promptly told them of our concerns, as we are obliged to do, and we can show we complied with the advice on their website as regards security, any penalty is likely to be less severe. It could go for compensation claims.<\/p>\n

\nTake care of your email marketing list data, and not only for your own purposes. Keep your security as high as possible, and be able to demonstrate how responsible you\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n