FOUR Security was asked by the Information Commissioner's Office to act as a pilot tester for an SME Toolkit the ICO has produced. The toolkit gives SMEs the ability to self-assess their level of data protection compliance. It will be launched soon, and from early user testing, the ICO reports feedback has been hugely positive.

FOUR Security was asked to get involved in the pilot because we were early, voluntary adopters of the ICO's 'Guiding Principles' and we support the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s office by providing case studies and trialling the first versions of the  CCTV Code of Practice Self assessment toolkit.

Stephen Halpin, Security Consultant with FOUR Security, tested the SME toolkit and has this to say: “We would use this toolkit to develop the maturity of approach to understanding Data Protection Act considerations, improving sustainability and identifying strengths and weaknesses.  By providing consistency to clients and generally professionalising the approach, we feel this improves commercial opportunities for companies that follow this process, as it drives out clearly-defined security scopes that are proportionate, necessary and commensurate to the risk.”