Artemis, as a leading fiduciary business, is constantly investing in technological advancements and training. As our clients would expect of us, keeping abreast of developments is critical to maintaining excellent service levels.
Data is currently held on-site on servers maintained by Artemis, with backup servers maintained elsewhere in Guernsey. Whilst this arrangement has worked well for a number of years, we have also been reviewing the development and popularity of cloud storage solutions. Consequently, we have decided to move some of the data we hold to the cloud, using a Microsoft 365 cloud solution.
What are the benefits of this change?
Cloud storage solutions offer a lot of flexibility and will lead to cost savings (both in terms of lower storage costs and less use of management and support time to maintain the existing server capabilities). Cyber security is one of the largest risks for all businesses, and Artemis sees cloud storage as one part of its strategy to keep your data secure. Using cloud storage allows us to take advantage of Microsoft’s security facilities, whilst maintaining access to our data.
What exactly is changing?
In future, email data will be stored in the cloud in Western Europe, accessible to Artemis personnel in Guernsey. The remainder of our data will continue to be hosted on servers located onsite in Guernsey. We may increase the use of cloud storage in the future, depending on how successful the current project becomes.
Will my data be secure?
Artemis has a number of policies and procedures in place to maintain data security and takes information management and security very seriously. These policies are being adapted and upgraded to take account of this development, and are designed to ensure client relationships, staff interests and valuable information assets are protected.
Artemis takes industry best practice into account and has investigated Microsoft’s security credentials and ability to safeguard our data. As a global leader in cyber security, Microsoft is able to offer enhancements to our current capabilities and has confirmed adherence to relevant data protection legislation. This ensures that data held on our servers and subsequently in the cloud, are held to an equivalent standard to that imposed in Guernsey.
Data is encrypted in transit to and from the cloud and data at rest is stored encrypted in EU data centres.
Artemis is continually developing our systems with a view to meeting and surpassing Cyber Essentials and IASME standards.
Will I continue to have access to the data I need?
Yes – there will be no interruption to access to information.
Will my data be available to overseas authorities?
Regulatory and tax transparency initiatives have dominated the landscape in recent years and facilitated overseas authorities gaining access to client data, even if hosted in the Channel Islands. There are existing regulatory and judicial safeguards which operate to ensure that such access is only granted where there are sufficient legal grounds to justify such access. Those safeguards will continue to be in place. However, we expect overseas authorities to obtain that information via Artemis directly.
Will my contractual relationship with Artemis change?
Our relationship with you will remain the same. We will be making adjustments to our privacy policy to reflect the hosting of our email exchange data outside of Guernsey.
How will this affect service delivery?
Access to email will be unaffected. We are required to maintain access to records not only for operational reasons and to ensure high levels of client service, but also for regulatory reasons.
When will this change take effect?
Data will be transferred to the cloud platform during October and the services will move and current exchange server will be switched off by the end of that month.
What do I need to do?
You do not need to do anything, but should you have any questions, please send an email to dataprotection@artemisci.com.