ICO won’t investigate every data security breach

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The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said that it will not investigate every complaint it receives about data protection practices, according to a new draft complaint-handling procedure.

The move comes amid the much-discussed topic of data security, with has been brought to the fore on the back of several high-profile scandals.

But instead of investigation every claim of fraudulent behaviour that is made by a company, it intends to pass some complaints it receives onto other organisations to deal with, setting out the details of the new process for determining when to address cases and issues more formally itself.

Its decision comes after the watchdog claimed it became involved in too many disputes between companies and individuals, with compliance and data protection becoming something of a "peripheral" issue.

"We want to focus on those who get things wrong repeatedly, and take action against those who commit serious contraventions of the legislation," the ICO said. "It is clear to us that when either an individual or an organisation is not sufficiently engaged with, or aware of, their respective information rights and obligations then a complaint or dispute is more likely."

It added: "We want to support both parties to engage with one another clearly about what individuals can expect and what organisations should deliver. This will avoid unnecessary concerns being raised with us and make it much easier for us to identify opportunities to improve information rights practice."

The ICO went on to say that it would improve its complaint logging system in order to adequately establish whether issues were one-off occasions or whether they demonstrated "evidence of a pattern of poor practice".

And while it said it will not necessarily investigate every complaint made, it did promise that it would publish the number of complaints it receives about organisations.

Storetec News/Blogs “http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/ico-wont-investigate-every-data-security-breach”. ICO won’t investigate every data security breach. December 31,

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