Rightly launches Rightly Protect to secure customer data

The UK technology company Rightly has launched a new free tool to enable customers to take back control of their digital footprint.

The consumer data action service actioned the solution to help combat the increasingly large swathes of data that are sold on to third-party entities, and then increase the numbers of hacks and scams occurring industry-wide. 

Sold on data increases cybercrime

According to new research conducted by Rightly, surveying 1,500 British consumers, a concerning 54% of Brits are confused by their data rights. Three-quarters are most concerned about losing control of financial information and 14% about family details. And with good reason: personal data is continuously lost through breaches, mismanaged by careless organisations and exploited by unscrupulous data brokers, who disguise themselves as “marketing service providers”.

The launch of Rightly Protect has come at a time when an estimated 86%consumers can’t remember how many companies they have given their personal information to and over half (54%) don’t know what laws exist to protect their data or that they can ask for it to be deleted. 

The free Rightly Protect tool directly combats these issues, aiming to address the root cause by reducing the instances consumers’ personal data is leaked by companies holding it. To achieve this, Rightly Protect utilises consumer data rights under GDPR and helps users automatically detect the countless organisations that hold their data. This empowers consumers to take informed action to ask those they no longer use or want to hold their data to remove it.

How Rightly Protect works

The new tool enables consumers to take back control of their data, helping them to reduce the size of their digital footprint and make targeted scam attacks and general spam less likely. 

• SCAN: First it scans user inboxes to work out who has the data. This is completely secure and Rightly does not gain access to emails. Rather, the information is gleaned through analysing the header of the email, not by examining the email’s content 
• DELETE: Once customers get the results, they can tell any company that has their data to erase it. In one click the tool enables the user to send direct email deletion requests to multiple selected companies. Under GDPR companies have one calendar month to respond to these requests. 
• RELAX: Because the data is deleted, there’s less personal information in the online world, reducing the risk of being targeted with spam or by hackers. Users will receive responses directly into their inbox and will be able to provide any additional information by replying directly. 

Speaking about the Rightly Protect launch, James Walker, CEO, explained, “Thousands of companies will have your data without you knowing it. Some will sell it, others will make money from it. Lots of them will lose it, or get hacked this year. We want to help consumers take control protect themselves and take their data away from companies that don’t need it. Their data is ours and not theirs after all”. 

He continued, “As the digital world is dramatically growing, it has never been more important for consumers to take control of their digital footprint,” James Walker adds. “For too long, businesses have been neglecting to understand consumers’ own their data and not the company. Rightly Protect is just the start. 

“Rightly's purpose is to help individuals and organisations make good use of data. We help them understand their data rights and obligations and equip them with the tools to manage, share and use data rightly. What happens to data should be up to the owner and we are on a mission to make data use fairer for everyone.”

Walker added, “Online data management should be simple. Consumers should not be falling victim to scams and suffer financially and emotionally. Enter Rightly Protect.”