Cyber attacks are no longer rare or isolated events. They are daily threats, targeting businesses of all sizes and across every industry. Recent government figures estimate millions of cyber crimes occur each year, and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often the most vulnerable.
Firstly as a business owner, it’s vital to remember: when your customers trust you with their personal data, you’re also responsible for protecting their privacy, safeguarding your reputation, and meeting your GDPR compliance obligations.
This guide provides practical steps, expert insights, and scenario-based examples to help businesses strengthen their defences.
Why GDPR Support Services Matter
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires all organisations to keep personal data secure. That means using “appropriate technical and organisational measures.
Therefore failing to do this can result in:
- Significant regulatory fines in addition to brand damage.
- Loss of customer confidence as a result of Business disruption.
Working with GDPR support services helps you:
- Identify security risks.
- Put the right protections in place.
- Train staff effectively.
- Respond quickly to breaches.
How can CDS help:
Outsourced Data Protection Officer
Key Cyber Security Measures for GDPR Compliance
Back Up Your Data
- Firstly store backups away from your main system. In addition, encrypt them to stop unauthorised access. Furthermore test them regularly to make sure they work. Above all it’s important that you have a robust cyber security framework in place to mitigate against any issues arising.
Use Strong Access Controls
- Require strong, unique passwords.
- Add multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Restrict access to only those who need it.
Train Staff to Spot Phishing
- Teach staff to identify suspicious emails.
- Watch for poor spelling, urgent demands, or unusual requests.
- Report phishing attempts immediately.
Secure Devices and Networks
- Keep anti-virus and firewalls up to date.
- Lock devices when unattended.
- Use a VPN for remote working.
Manage Data Retention
- Keep only the personal data you really need.
- Securely delete or destroy anything that’s no longer required.
Penetration Testing: Spot Weaknesses Before Criminals Do
We are your trusted Pen Testing partners
Penetration testing is a security assessment where ethical hackers simulate real-world cyberattacks in a safe, controlled environment. Unlike automated scans, pen tests go further by mimicking the tactics, techniques, and procedures of genuine attackers to uncover hidden weaknesses in systems, applications, networks, and even human factors such as phishing susceptibility. The primary goal is not only to identify vulnerabilities but also to demonstrate how they could be exploited and to measure the potential business impact of an attack. This provides organizations with actionable insights to fix weaknesses, strengthen defenses, and reduce the risk of costly data breaches, downtime, or regulatory penalties.
By proactively testing security posture, businesses gain a realistic view of how resilient they are against cyber threats—before malicious actors get the chance to find those same gaps.
Benefits for GDPR compliance:
- Highlights risks that could lead to data breaches.
- Shows regulators you are taking proactive steps.
- Provides a roadmap for improving security.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) offers extensive guidance on cyber security for individuals, businesses, and government organisations. The guidance includes advice on basic practices, official certification schemes, and incident response planning
Finding the right pen test that suits your business & your cyber security needs:
Internal Penetration Test – This type of tests is designed to simulate attacks to internal systems and networks as if performed by a malicious insider or an external attacker who has already successfully penetrated the perimeter defences.
External Penetration Test – Our testers will mimic the behaviour of a hacker. We aim is to identify and exploit vulnerabilities found in the external facing systems and services, such as email servers and remote access terminals.
Web Application Penetration Test – These tests are aimed at individual web applications to assess the security level and posture of the web application itself.
Vulnerability scanning – Great for regular and systematic testing. Low-cost & high frequency to inspect the potential points of exploit on a computer network to identify areas of concern. A vulnerability scan detects and classifies weaknesses in a network and predicts the effectiveness of countermeasures that we put in place to prevent a malicious attack.
Our testers will identify and assess the vulnerabilities that pose a threat to you. Once identified, our report will determine the probability and magnitude of the possible threats, vulnerabilities or risks associated with your systems or networks.
We provide you with:
- A ranked list of identified vulnerabilities in priority order
- Risk matrix and remediations clearly set out
- Support resolving and remediating any vulnerabilities
- Dedicated account manager
- Fixed cost testing helping you manage budgets
Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus
Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed certification scheme designed to help businesses protect themselves against the most common online threats. It sets out a clear baseline of cyber security practices that organizations of any size can implement to strengthen their defenses.
Two Levels of Certification:
- Cyber Essentials (Basic): A self-assessment that reviews how your business applies key security controls, such as secure configuration, access management, firewalls, patch management, and malware protection.
- Cyber Essentials Plus: Builds on the basic certification by adding an independent technical assessment. Security experts test your systems to verify that controls are in place and working effectively.
Benefits for GDPR Compliance:
- Demonstrates accountability by showing that your business takes proactive steps to secure personal data.
- Strengthens trust with customers, partners, and regulators by evidencing a recognised standard of cyber hygiene.
- Reduces risk of breaches by addressing the most common attack vectors targeted by cybercriminals.
- Provides a strong foundation for broader compliance efforts, helping your organization align with GDPR’s security and data protection requirements.
Scenario-Based Guidance
Phishing Attack in a Law Firm
lets cover off some scenarios. The first one will be more detailed with the following examples being more concise and pragmatic. This is to show you the difference between high level understand and deeper insights gained for working with an agency like us.
A staff member receives an email appearing to come from a client. Believing it to be genuine, they click a malicious link and enter their login credentials. The attacker gains access to the firm’s document management system, exposing sensitive case files and personal data.
Incident Response Steps
Immediate Containment & Isolation:
- Disconnect the compromised device from the network to prevent lateral movement.
- Revoke any active sessions and reset the affected user’s credentials.
- Block the attacker’s IP and disable suspicious accounts that may have been created or compromised.
Internal Notification & Escalation:
- Inform the IT security team, DPO, and senior management immediately.
- Record the incident in the firm’s incident log, noting timeline, actions taken, and potential scope.
Forensic Investigation & Risk Assessment:
- Determine what systems were accessed (e.g., email, document management system, CRM).
- Identify the categories of data at risk (client correspondence, financial records, court bundles).
- Assess whether confidential case strategies, privileged documents, or personal data were exfiltrated.
- Establish whether encryption or access controls limit the exposure risk.
Regulatory & Legal Obligations:
- If personal data has been accessed or is likely compromised, assess reporting obligations under GDPR/UK GDPR.
- Notify the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of a breach, unless it is unlikely to result in risk to individuals’ rights and freedoms.
- If high-risk data subjects are affected (e.g., vulnerable clients, sensitive litigation data), issue data subject notifications without undue delay.
Remediation & Recovery:
- Remove the phishing email from all inboxes.
- Patch vulnerabilities in email filtering and authentication (e.g., enforce DMARC, DKIM, SPF).
- Apply multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all user accounts.
- Restore compromised files from backups if altered or encrypted.
Lessons Learned:
Human Factor
Even experienced staff can be tricked by sophisticated phishing. B2B firms are especially targeted because client communications often involve urgent, high-value matters.
Awareness & Testing
Regular phishing simulations, pen testing and training should be mandatory, tailored to law firm scenarios (e.g., fake disclosure bundles, settlement offers, or court notifications).
Technical Controls
- Enforce MFA to protect accounts even if passwords are stolen.
- Deploy advanced email filtering and anomaly detection tools.
- Implement data loss prevention (DLP) to alert on unusual file access or mass downloads.
Governance & Preparedness
- Maintain an incident response playbook specifically for phishing attacks.
- Keep an up-to-date Record of Processing Activities (RoPA) to quickly assess what categories of personal data were exposed.
- Run tabletop exercises with partners and staff to rehearse breach response, ensuring legal and regulatory reporting deadlines can be met.
Insider Risk in Manufacturing
A departing employee downloads client data before leaving.
Incident Response Steps:
- Suspend access immediately.
- Audit system logs.
- Inform clients if necessary.
- Update offboarding processes.
Lessons Learned:
Insider risks are serious. HR and IT teams must work together.
Lost Laptop in Healthcare
A clinician loses an unencrypted laptop containing patient data.
Incident Response Plan:
- Report the incident internally.
- Notify patients where appropriate.
- Report to the ICO within 72 hours.
- Encrypt all devices and enable remote wipe.
Lessons Learned:
Encryption is an essential safeguard.
Jargon Buster: Cyber and GDPR Terms Made Simple
GDPR: The law that protects personal data.
Personal Data: Any information that identifies a person.
Encryption: Turning data into unreadable code.
Pen Test: A fake cyber attack to find weaknesses.
Phishing: Fake emails that trick people into giving away data.
VPN: A secure way to connect to the internet.
MFA: More than one login method, such as password + code.
Data Breach: When personal data is lost, stolen, or exposed.
GDPR: The law that protects personal data.
Personal Data: Any information that identifies a person.
Encryption: Turning data into unreadable code.
Pen Test: A fake cyber attack to find weaknesses.
Phishing: Fake emails that trick people into giving away data.
VPN: A secure way to connect to the internet.
MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication): More than one login method, such as password + code.
Data Breach: When personal data is lost, stolen, or exposed.
Anonymisation: Removing personal details so data can’t identify anyone.
Pseudonymisation: Replacing personal details with fake identifiers (like a code) to protect identities.
Cookie: Small files websites use to remember you.
DPO (Data Protection Officer): The person responsible for making sure an organisation follows GDPR.
Access Rights (Subject Access Request): Your right to see what personal data a company has about you.
Malware: Harmful software, like viruses or spyware.
Ransomware: A type of malware that locks your files and demands payment to unlock them.
Firewall: A digital barrier that helps block unwanted traffic.
Social Engineering: Tricking people into giving away information or access.
Zero-Day: A brand-new software weakness that hackers can exploit before it’s fixed.
Patch: An update that fixes security holes in software.
Data Minimisation: Collecting only the personal data that’s truly needed.
ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office): The UK authority that enforces data protection rules.
FAQs on GDPR and Cyber Security
Q1. How often should we do a penetration test?
Firstly you should test at least once a year, or after major system changes.
Q2. Do we need Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus?
In summary Cyber Essentials is a great starting point. Cyber Essentials Plus provides stronger assurance with independent testing.
Q3. Is Cyber Essentials enough for GDPR compliance?
To sum up, No. Cyber Essentials complements GDPR but does not replace it. Thus you need a comprehensive GDPR strategy.
Q4. What happens if we don’t report a breach in 72 hours?
The ICO may take enforcement action, which could include fines.
Q5. Can small businesses get affordable GDPR support?
Yes. Many services are designed for SMEs and provide expert help without the cost of a full-time DPO.
Q6. Do we need a Data Protection Officer (DPO)?
Not all organisations do. A DPO is mandatory if you process large amounts of personal data, handle special category data, or are a public authority. Many opt to outsource the role of DPO to us.
Q7. How long can we keep personal data?
Only as long as it’s needed for the purpose you collected it. After that, it should be deleted or anonymised.
Q8. What is the difference between a data processor and a data controller?
- A data controller decides how and why personal data is used.
- A data processor handles personal data on behalf of the controller.
Q9. How can we reduce the risk of a data breach?
Use strong passwords, enable MFA, train staff on phishing, patch software, encrypt data, and back up systems.
Q10. Do staff need GDPR and cyber training?
Yes. Human error is the biggest cause of breaches, so regular training is essential.
Q11. What is the maximum GDPR fine?
Up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover, whichever is higher, depending on the severity.
Q12. What’s the difference between a DPIA and a risk assessment?
- A DPIA (Data Protection Impact Assessment) looks at how new projects affect personal data.
- A risk assessment looks more broadly at cyber and organisational risks.
Q13. Do we need to tell customers about every cyber attack?
Not always. You must notify affected individuals if the breach is likely to cause harm (like identity theft or financial loss).
Q14. Is storing data in the cloud GDPR compliant?
Yes, if the provider meets GDPR requirements and you have the right contracts (Data Processing Agreements) in place.
Q15. How often should staff passwords be changed?
Best practice is to encourage strong, unique passwords with MFA, rather than forcing frequent password changes.
Final Thoughts:
Cyber security and GDPR compliance are not one-off projects but ongoing commitments that require proactive management. Threats evolve daily, and regulations continue to tighten, making it vital for businesses to stay ahead.
By partnering with us, you gain access to:
- Comprehensive penetration testing to identify and fix vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
- Cyber Essentials certification support to demonstrate your security standards and reassure customers.
- Expert GDPR compliance services including audits, policies, training, and ongoing advisory to keep your organisation aligned with legal requirements.
Together, these services don’t just help you protect customer data and reduce the risk of breaches—they also enable you to build lasting trust with clients, partners, and regulators. Contact our team to discuss GDPR support, schedule a cyber security audit, or start your journey toward Cyber Essentials certification.