Vehicle tracking systems can be incredibly beneficial for fleet managers. These systems can enhance the efficiency of their operations, boost cost savings, improve driver behaviour, and increase customer satisfaction. However, accessing these benefits comes with certain responsibilities, and it must be done in compliance with UK vehicle tracking and data privacy laws.
The data you collect and process via your fleet vehicle tracking system includes operational, route, vehicle, and driver information. The sensitive nature of this data and the threat of data theft or tampering means data protection is vitally important.
In this article, we explore the legal and compliance aspects and the best practices you can adopt to protect sensitive information captured by tracking technologies. We cover encryption methods, data handling protocols, and compliance, and we provide actionable insights for businesses looking to safeguard tracking data against breaches and unauthorised access.
Vehicle Tracking, Personal Data, and UK Law
Before discussing various ways to protect the data you gather with vehicle trackers, it’s important to discuss this data and UK law. Personal data and how it’s gathered, processed, used, stored, and protected are governed by the Human Rights Act, the Data Protection Act 1998, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018. These acts also form the basis for the UK’s GPS tracking laws.
According to the Human Rights Act:
- – Individuals have a right to data privacy and confidentiality.
- – It is illegal to misuse personal data obtained through vehicle trackers and other technology.
- – Organisations must protect any personal employee data they collect.
- – Employees have a right to know about the personal information their employers collect, process, and store.
- – All personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully.
- – All personal data must be obtained for specified and lawful purposes.
- – Fleet managers and operators must distinguish and state whether the data they collect is personal or business.
- – Fleet managers must state whether they are using this data lawfully to improve business operations with their employees’ consent.
- – Organisations may track business vehicles and drivers provided this is done within the bounds of the law, and they do not share or use personal data without consent.
According to the GDPR 2018:
- – Employees must knowingly consent to being tracked and their data being collected, processed, and used lawfully.
- – Personal employee data must be processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently.
- – This data must be collected for legitimate, specified purposes and not processed in ways that are incompatible with the stated purposes.
- – The collected data must be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for the stated purposes.
- – Personal data must be accurate and kept up to date where necessary.
- – This data must be kept in a form that allows the identification of individuals for no longer than is necessary for the stated purposes unless it’s archived for purposes in the public interest.
- – Personal employee data must be processed and stored in a way that ensures appropriate data protection, including technical and organisational protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accident loss, damage, or destruction.
- – Fleet managers and operators are responsible for ensuring compliance with these regulations, and they must be able to demonstrate compliance.
You should also ensure that the business data you collect is accurate to avoid the risks of inaccurate fleet data. While not stipulated by these laws, performing regular data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) to help keep data secure is a good business practice. These assessments can help you identify and mitigate potential risks.
Potential Risks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Fleet management systems are potentially vulnerable to various risks and threats. Your data protection measures should take cybersecurity, physical, and internal risks, threats, and vulnerabilities into account.
Cybersecurity risks include unauthorised access and hacking, as well as malware and ransomware. Physical threats include unauthorised physical access and the theft of vehicles or devices. Internal threats include inadequate awareness and training, and employee misconduct.
Data Protection and Data Privacy: Best Practices
There is no one solution to ensuring data protection and data privacy. If you want to protect the business and personal data that you collect using vehicle trackers, you should implement several different best practices.
Legal and Compliance Aspects
In light of our growing reliance on digital data, it’s vitally important that you understand and comply with the UK’s data protection laws and regulations. These regulations stipulate how you should collect, process, share, and store data, focusing on preventing data breaches and protecting individuals’ privacy.
Implement Powerful Cybersecurity Measures
There are various robust cybersecurity measures that you can implement to keep data secure. Among these are:
Antivirus software and firewalls: Antivirus software and firewalls are essential tools for protecting data privacy. As the first line of defence, these tools prevent unauthorised access and malware. Be sure to implement them if you haven’t already done so.
Regular software updates and patches: Ensure you keep your software updated with the latest patches. These updates usually repair security vulnerabilities, preventing them from being used by hackers to gain access to sensitive data.
Regular Data Backups and Recovery Plans
Regular data backups play a pivotal role in data security. Ensure that you perform data backups daily. If something such as a system failure or cyber attack results in the loss of data, you can recover it quickly if you have an up-to-date data backup.
Technology for Enhanced Security
Various technologies offer enhanced data protection. Use these to boost the security of the business and personal data your vehicle trackers collect.
Cloud computing: Cloud computing is one of the most popular and trusted technologies for protecting data in fleet management. Cloud-based platforms boast access control, encryption, redundancy, and other advanced security measures, and their storage options are flexible and scalable. These platforms also ensure the protection and availability of data, thanks to their powerful disaster recovery and backup capabilities. The providers of the best cloud-based platforms adhere to strict compliance standards and security protocols for enhanced protection.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML): AI and ML are becoming increasingly popular methods of boosting security in fleet management. You can use them to analyse large volumes of data for the identification of anomalies or patterns that could indicate potential security threats, such as cyberattacks or abnormal driver behaviour. If AI algorithms detect potential threats, they can provide automated responses and real-time alerts, thereby making a significant difference to your security measures’ effectiveness and speed.
Blockchain technology: Blockchain technology allows you to store the data you collect via vehicle trackers in a decentralised ledger, ensuring it’s both traceable and tamper-proof. This technology offers a secure, transparent way to handle data transactions and maintain secure records.
Data Encryption and Secure Access Controls
Preventing unauthorised access is an important aspect of data privacy and protection. Among the best practices you can implement include encryption techniques and access control policies.
Encryption: Encryption plays a key role in protecting data transmitted by your vehicle trackers. Encryption technology converts data into a code, preventing unauthorised individuals from accessing it while it is being transmitted. When choosing a system, ensure it uses strong encryption standards for the peace of mind that comes with knowing the data your trackers collect is secure.
Secure access controls: According to UK law, access to the data your vehicle trackers collect should be restricted to authorised individuals only. This requires you to use powerful authentication methods to verify the identities of personnel. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a good option to consider, as it requires a few verification methods, such as a username, password, and mobile device confirmation.
Employee Awareness and Training Programs
Employee awareness plays a vital role in data protection. Offer regular data security training and awareness programs to your employees to ensure that they understand the importance of data privacy and protection. You should also educate them about best practices, such as securing login credentials, and about potential threats, such as phishing attempts.
Industry Standards Compliance
Whatever your sector, the relevant industry standards should include operational best practices, ethical guidelines, and data security protocols. Complying with these standards is vital for ensuring trust as well as operational integrity. For example, ISO 27001 focuses on information security management. Complying with this standard ensures that your business and personal data handling processes are effective and secure.
Auditing and Reporting for Compliance
Regular auditing and reporting are essential for ensuring that you comply with legal and industry standards. You can use audits to identify data weak spots in your data protection and compliance measures, which you can then rectify. Regular reporting helps ensure accountability and transparency around data handling and protection within your organisation and to regulatory bodies.
Conclusion
Data privacy and protection are non-negotiable if you want to enhance your business operations with the help of vehicle trackers. In addition to ensuring you stay on the right side of the law, protecting the business and personal data you collect prevents it from being tampered with, confirms your credibility, and gains your employees’ trust, respect, and support.
Choose Crystal Ball’s secure vehicle tracking systems for trustworthy solutions for fleets of all sizes.