Now’s the time to get a grip on your digital data

LARGE household brands revealing their IT systems have been hacked and customers’ data stolen (or potentially stolen) have become a regular occurrence and it fuels fraudsters and their scams. In recent times, data protection and privacy laws have been considerably strengthened and the UK consumer is greatly protected. However, research by consumer data action service Rightly of 1,500 British consumers revealed more than half of Britons (54 per cent) were confused by their data rights. Three quarters were most concerned about losing control of financial information and 14 per cent about family details.

And with good reason: personal data is continuously lost via breaches, mismanaged by organisations and exploited by unscrupulous data brokers, disguising themselves as “marketing service providers”.

All of which underlines why it is vitally important to take control; understanding which organisations have your data, how and why they are using it and – most importantly – if they really need it. If you decide they don’t, and shouldn’t have it, your first step is to request the organisation to delete it (now a legal right).

To assist with this process, Rightly has launched Rightly Protect which, it says, enables consumers to take back control, helping them to reduce the size of their digital footprint and make targeted scam attacks and general spam less likely.

I was given a tour of the system this week and was impressed. The concept is simple: Rightly scans your inbox, analysing the header of each email (not the content) to ascertain which organisations hold your data.

You are then provided with a one-click option to send direct email deletion requests to multiple companies. Recipients have one month to respond under data protection laws. Rightly Protect is free to use and can be accessed here: www.right.ly