GDPR и защита на данните осъзнатост

Personal data is part of almost every job. This short course gives you a clear, practical introduction to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and to the everyday habits that keep personal data safe. No legal background is needed.

What this course covers

• What the GDPR is and why it matters
• The key terms you need to know
• The principles of data protection
• The lawful bases for processing
• The rights of individuals
• How to spot and report a data breach
• Good habits for everyday work

1. What is the GDPR and why it matters

The General Data Protection Regulation is the European Union law that governs how organisations collect, use, store and share the personal data of individuals in the EU. It gives people more control over their data and sets clear obligations for the organisations that handle it. Getting it right builds trust; getting it wrong can lead to harm, complaints and significant fines.

2. Key terms

Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable person, such as a name, an email address, an identification number, or location data. Special category data is more sensitive and needs extra protection: it includes health, ethnicity, religious beliefs, and similar information. Processing means almost anything you do with data, from collecting and storing to sharing and deleting. A controller decides why and how data is processed; a processor acts on the controller’s instructions.

3. The principles of data protection

The GDPR sets out core principles. Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently; collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes; limited to what is necessary; accurate and kept up to date; kept no longer than needed; and processed securely. On top of these sits accountability: organisations must be able to show that they comply.

4. Lawful bases for processing

You need a lawful basis before you process personal data. The GDPR provides six: consent, contract, legal obligation, vital interests, public task, and legitimate interests. Choose the right basis before you start, and be consistent about it.

5. The rights of individuals

People have strong rights over their own data: to be informed, to access their data, to have it corrected, to have it erased, to restrict processing, to data portability, to object, and rights related to automated decision-making. Requests to exercise these rights often carry legal deadlines, so pass them to the right person quickly.

6. Consent done well

Where you rely on consent, it must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous, and it must be as easy to withdraw as it was to give. Pre-ticked boxes and silence do not count. If consent is hard to obtain or to evidence, another lawful basis may fit better.

7. Data breaches: spot and report

A personal data breach is any event that leads to personal data being lost, exposed, altered or sent to the wrong person. If you suspect a breach, report it straight away through the proper channel. Speed matters: serious breaches must be reported to the regulator within 72 hours, and a fast internal response limits the harm.

8. Good habits for everyday work

Most data protection is good routine. Collect only what you need. Keep it accurate. Store it in approved systems rather than personal drives or inboxes. Share it only with people who need it. Use strong authentication, lock your screen, and stay alert to phishing. When data is no longer needed, dispose of it securely.

By the end of this course

You will be able to recognise personal data, explain the core principles and the lawful bases, describe the rights of individuals, and apply safe day-to-day habits, including how and when to report a data breach.

This course is provided through the C2 Learning Platform.