Tuesday, March 20, 2018
On 25 May 2018, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force. Every company having to do with personalised data – which is the clear majority – has to stick to strict regulations. Neglecting this implicates severe fines. For Umbraco users, there are now two important upgrades which help be compliant with the GDPR.
In our digital world of today, a proper dealing with personal data is both an everyday thing and a task which demands acting responsibly. From May 2018 on, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ought to help with this. It is designed to handle personal data the same way, whenever a EU country is involved in the process. Every company has to follow these regulations, whether it is a private or public one.
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This means that persons responsible need to get well-informed about their new laws and duties as well as tackle the technical realisation. For Umbraco users, this is where the latest version, Umbraco 7.9, gets relevant – which the HQ christened the “GDPR Umbraco”. Why that is, becomes clear quickly: The upgrade provides an important basis with which specifications the GDPR makes are more easily met.
The heart of Umbraco 7.9 is the overview over all personalised data. This means two things concretely: the general decision which data is collected as well as the access authorisation. The General Data Protection Regulation demands that it can be traced back which user made which change in the system at all times. Umbraco 7.9 offers this service as well as the export of an extensive list of all data collected on a specific user.
For users of Umbraco, the upgrade to 7.9 makes a GDPR-compliant use of the CMS considerably easier. Just like the content management system, the tool Umbraco Forms got a GDPR upgrade, too, Forms 7.0. In both the CMS and the tool, users can customise and restrict access rights. Umbraco Forms 7.0 can only be used with Umbraco 7.9.
While complying to the GDPR is the responsibility of the respective company, Umbraco 7.9 and Forms 7.0 are pillars that make it significantly easier to move within GDPR bounds. The fact that no other features were added since the prior versions – 7.8.2 and Forms 6.0.7 –, show just how important these upgrades are. This update is solely about data protection.
Screenshots and further information on the upgrades can be found on the official Umbraco blog: https://umbraco.com/blog/umbraco-version-79-and-forms-70-is-out.
At the same time, these two versions won’t have been the last ones to include GDPR-friendly features. This is what it says on the official Umbraco blog:
We'll continue our focus on data privacy and protection going forward, and we'll implement best practices where necessary in future releases to make sure it gets simpler for all of us to stay compliant and take proper care of our client’s data in Umbraco.
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The rapid evolving of the digital world make continuous adjustments to legal texts necessary. Developers answer to these and consider them in their software updates – which means that data protection will continue to play an important role in Umbraco as well.
Umbraco 7.9 and Forms 7.0 are to be considered a starting sign for a continuous process in generalised date protection. These upgrades help you to be excellently prepared until 25 May 2018.