Privacy Policy

CIS Security Ltd is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses the personal data of its external stakeholders, such as clients, suppliers, business partners etc, and to meeting its data protection obligations. This policy applies to the personal data of all stakeholders and sets out the organisation’s commitment to data protection, and individual rights and obligations in relation to personal data.

CIS Security Ltd has appointed a Data Protection Officer. Their role is to inform and advise the organisation on its data protection obligations. They can be contacted at dpo@cis-security.co.uk. Questions about this policy, or requests for further information, should be directed to the Data Protection Officer.

Definitions

“Personal data” is any information that relates to a living individual who can be identified from that information. Processing is any use that is made of data, including collecting, storing, amending, disclosing or destroying it. “Special categories of personal data” means information about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, sex life or sexual orientation and genetic and biometric data. “Criminal records data” means information about an individual’s criminal convictions and offences, and information relating to criminal allegations and proceedings.

Data Protection Principles

The organisation processes personal data in accordance with the following data protection principles:

Where the organisation processes special categories of personal data or criminal records data to perform obligations or to exercise rights in employment law, this is done in accordance with a policy on special categories of data and criminal records data. The organisation will update personal data promptly if an individual advises that his/her information has changed or is inaccurate.

Personal data gathered during the lifetime of the contractual arrangements with our stakeholders is held on hard copy and electronic format within CIS IT systems, such as Timegate, SAGE 200 financial systems and network drives. The periods for which the organisation holds personal data are contained in its privacy notices. The organisation keeps a record of its processing activities in respect of personal data in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Individual Rights

As a data subject, individuals have a number of rights in relation to their personal data.

Subject Access Requests

Individuals have the right to make a subject access request.

If an individual makes a subject access request, the organisation will tell him/her:

To make a subject access request, the individual should send the request to dpo@cis-security.co.uk or complete a Subject Access Request Form available within the document section of the employee portal. The organisation has the right to ask for proof of identification before the request can be processed. The individual will need to verify his/her identity and the documents it requires.

The organisation will normally respond to a request within a period of one month from the date it is received. In some cases, such as where the organisation processes large amounts of the individual’s data, it may respond within three months of the date the request is received.

The organisation will write to the individual within one month of receiving the original request to tell him/her if this is the case. If a subject access request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, the organisation is not obliged to comply with it. Alternatively, the organisation can agree to respond but will charge a fee, which will be based on the administrative cost of responding to the request. A subject access request is likely to be manifestly unfounded or excessive where it repeats a request to which the organisation has already responded. If an individual submits a request that is unfounded or excessive, the organisation will notify him/her that this is the case and whether or not it will respond to it.

Other Rights

Individuals have a number of other rights in relation to their personal data. They can require the organisation to:

To ask the organisation to take any of these steps, the individual should send the request to dpo@cis-security.co.uk.

Data Security

The organisation takes the security of personal data seriously. The organisation has internal policies and controls in place to protect personal data against loss, accidental destruction, misuse or disclosure, and to ensure that data is not accessed, except by employees in the proper performance of their duties. Access to the CIS internal IT infrastructure is controlled by password protection and as such has measures in place to minimise risk of illegal access from outside parties. All external third-party systems used by CIS are password protected and access is restricted in line with the role of employee. All internal data used by CIS is backed up daily and held externally by a third party on servers located in the UK at a bomb-proof, flood-proof and EMP-proof data centre and holds both ISO27001 and ISO9001 certifications. Where the organisation engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, such parties do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.

Impact Assessments

Some of the processing that the organisation carries out may result in risks to privacy. Where processing would result in a high risk to individual’s rights and freedoms, the organisation will carry out a data protection impact assessment to determine the necessity and proportionality of processing. This will include considering the purposes for which the activity is carried out, the risks for individuals and the measures that can be put in place to mitigate those risks.

Data Breaches

If the organisation discovers that there has been a breach of personal data that poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will report it to the Information Commissioner within 72 hours of discovery. The organisation will record all data breaches regardless of their effect. If the breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will tell affected individuals that there has been a breach and provide them with information about its likely consequences and the mitigation measures it has taken.

International Data Transfers

The organisation will not transfer HR-related personal data to countries outside the EEA.

Individual Responsibilities

Individuals are responsible for helping the organisation keep their personal data up to date. Individuals should let the organisation know if data provided to the organisation changes, for example if an individual changes their contact number and or email address.

CIS employees may have access to the personal data of CIS external Stakeholders in the course of their employment, contract, volunteer period, internship or apprenticeship. Where this is the case, the organisation relies on individuals to help meet its data protection obligations to staff and to all stakeholders.

Individuals who have access to personal data are required:

Further details about the organisation’s security procedures can be found in its Information Security Policy. Failing to observe these requirements may amount to a disciplinary offence, which will be dealt with under the organisation’s disciplinary procedure. Significant or deliberate breaches of this policy, such as accessing employee, customer, client or supplier data without authorisation or a legitimate reason to do so, may constitute gross misconduct and could lead to dismissal without notice. Training The organisation will provide awareness training to all individuals about their data protection responsibilities as part of the induction process and at regular intervals thereafter. Information relating to GDPR including fact sheets and guidance will be regularly updated and stored within the employee portal. Individuals whose roles require regular access to personal data, or who are responsible for implementing this policy or responding to subject access requests under this policy, will receive additional training to help them understand their duties and how to comply with them.