Data Security for Domestic Abuse Charities: Protecting Survivors from Digital Risk
Domestic abuse charities hold the most genuinely dangerous data of any organisation in the voluntary sector. The name, address, and circumstances of a woman who has escaped an abusive partner — in a refuge whose location must be kept secret — represents a direct safety risk if exposed. Data security for domestic abuse charities is not a compliance exercise. It is a safeguarding imperative. The ICO recognises this by applying heightened scrutiny to the handling of domestic abuse survivor data — and charities in this sector must treat information security with the same seriousness they apply to physical safety.
The ICO classifies domestic abuse survivor data as the highest-risk category of personal data — warranting the strongest technical and organisational protections available.
The Specific Data Security Risks for Domestic Abuse Charities
Domestic abuse charities face data security risks that are uniquely severe in their potential consequences: refuge location data (the physical addresses of safe house properties must be treated as confidential — exposure could enable perpetrators to locate survivors); client identity and contact information (perpetrators searching for survivors may use any accessible information to locate them); risk assessment records (documents describing the specific risks posed by perpetrators contain information that could be weaponised); multi-agency information sharing (data shared with police, MARAC, social services, and other partners creates additional exposure points); and digital contact with survivors (email, text, and app-based communication with survivors must be secure and consider the possibility that their devices are monitored by perpetrators).
Implementing Survivor-Safe Data Security
Domestic abuse charities must implement: strict access controls on all survivor data — only staff with a direct service relationship should have access; encryption of all databases containing survivor information; physical security of refuge locations — location data must never be recorded in systems accessible from outside the charity's secured network; a device security policy for staff who work with survivors — devices must be encrypted, screen-locked, and remote-wipeable; a digital safety assessment for survivors that considers the risk of device monitoring by perpetrators; a specific data breach response procedure that treats the risk of location disclosure as the highest priority concern; and a technology policy that limits which external parties can access survivor data and under what conditions. The DASH MARAC risk assessment data deserves particular attention — its disclosure could directly compromise ongoing safety plans.
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