Tips for Protecting CCTV Footage

When you’ve invested time and finances into installing CCTV for your business, the physical cameras and the footage that they record needs to be protected. Compromised footage loses all value, and means that your equipment is wasted money. As a business owner, you want all of your financial investments to run as smoothly and efficiently as possible – and CCTV should be no exception.

To get the most protection and efficiency from your CCTV cameras, take steps to ensure your physical footage is secure and try to prevent hacking or deletion of online recordings.

Here are our top tips for protecting CCTV footage, and they’re guaranteed to be helpful for your business.

Ensure GDPR Compliance

Since it is a method of data collection, CCTV footage must comply with GDPR. If your recordings do not adhere to the law, they’re useless at deterring or catching criminals since you’re breaking the law yourself. Police won’t always accept your footage, and your security cameras are wasted money and maintenance. You could also be hit with a hefty fine that may be detrimental to your business.

Anybody recorded by your CCTV system should be informed with signs that they are being recorded, as transparency is a key part of the GDPR. This gives anybody subject to your recordings the ability to challenge the way you’re using their information. If you’re using your cameras to monitor employees, this should be disclosed in your privacy policy too. Clearly stating the use of CCTV also acts as a deterrent for crime, which is only beneficial for you.

Control Who Has Access

Minimising the number of people who can access your CCTV footage is wise. Just as you’re selective in choosing employees to handle alarm response and key holding for your premises, you must be able to fully trust or supervise any team member that manages your security cameras. The fewer employees that can access CCTV control, the less likely it is that mistakes will be made. Your team doesn’t have to be malicious for information to leak, it can simply happen by accident without serious care.

If your recordings are stored digitally, it would be sensible to encrypt them in case your database is hacked. Files of recordings online shouldn’t be accessible to all members of your company, because the footage is private. Physical copies of CCTV should be kept under lock and key, and only managed by employees who need it for the function of their job. Sensible security of your CCTV footage is imperative, or you’re risking that your company is breaking the law.

Routinely Delete Old Footage

You’ll make the security of your footage a lot more straightforward if there’s less of it! Determine the length of time that it’s sensible for you to keep recordings, for example, two weeks, and make sure that videos are never kept longer than that. Not only will less footage mean you have less to manage, but you must regulate your data carefully to comply with GDPR too.

Your business can only keep footage for as long as is necessary for the purpose it was collected. If CCTV is in operation to catch theft, you could delete footage daily once you’ve confirmed with your door supervisors that no crime has been committed on your premises. The footage is redundant if there’s no need for it, so you’d be spending money on storage for useless files.

For further advice on ensuring the safety of your business premises, including how to manage a CCTV system and security cameras properly, then feel free to contact us at RPS Facilities.