Teleworking and GDPR : What solutions to protect data?

In the context of the health crisis that France is facing, many professionals will have to implement teleworking to reconcile limiting the spread of the virus and business continuity.

While several companies had already initiated a remote working approach for their employees, the week of 16 March 2020 will see several million French people learn about remote working and join the 15 to 25% of professionals already concerned.

Why the implementation of GDPR-compatible teleworking is important.

For organizations for which this practice was implemented only for a limited number of people, the current situation leads us to think about how to secure remote accesses to the organization's information system. The cyber attack on the Czech hospital confirms that, even with Coronavirus, the needs for confidentiality and integrity of data as well as user authentication are necessary.

The Adequacy team was called upon last week by several data protection officers facing new situations that they urgently needed to respond to. We have therefore provided our customers with a dedicated email to support DPOs free of charge in this difficult period.

In order to answer as many people as possible on this subject, we present the various remote connection solutions with their advantages and disadvantages.

The various connection solutions for compatible RGPD teleworking.

Virtual private networks (VPNs)

VPNs (Virtual Private Network) allow you to connect a remote computer to your organization's network via a simple Internet connection. This method does not connect you to a specific computer in your office, but rather to the local network.

The VPN is often used by organizations whose employees own laptops whose security strategy the company ensures.

However, if your employees use their personal PC, this solution is not suitable. Indeed, it is technically possible that a virus or even malware present on a personal computer whose security strategy you do not ensure can enter the company environment via the VPN tunnel.

Remote Desktop Protocols (RDP)

Remote Desktop Protocols (RDPs) are used to eliminate the possibility of an unintended infection. Indeed, RDPs do not allow the transfer of files between the remote machine (PC used by the remote employee) and the company environment.

The advantage of RDPs lies in the fact that it allows employees to be able to connect directly to their corporate PC directly from the PC at home.

Remote Desktop Services (RDS)

RDS (Remote Desktop Services) and works like RDP, but instead of connecting to a PC, the remote user connects directly to the server.

The downside with RDP is that you need to have a free PC for each remote user, while with RDS, as long as you have the appropriate number of licenses, multiple users can be connected simultaneously.

Raising employee awareness, the keystone of your data protection with teleworking.

Regardless of the solution that will be implemented, you must ensure that all updates have been made and that your employees have been made aware of this solution.

Join our webinar on April 9, 2020

In order to answer all your questions on the subject of Telework and its reconciliation with the RGPD, the Adequacy team decided to organize a special webinar on April 9 at 11 am.