The Importance of Data Security When Outsourcing Your Data Annotation

Artificial intelligence and machine learning projects require a lot of data annotation work to be performed, which a lot of companies choose to outsource to a service provider. However, in addition to the data itself, you also need to share a lot of additional information with the service provider about the nature of your project. These are usually things like specific functionality the product needs to have, some business objectives, and other proprietary information. Therefore, not only do you need to have absolute trust in the outsourcing company, but they need to be audited by independent agencies to ensure the necessary security processes and standards are in place. 

In this article, we will dive deeper into the importance of data security when outsourcing your data annotation and what you can do to better protect your interests. Let’s start by taking a look at the role of data annotation in AI and ML projects. 

How is Data Used in AI and ML Projects? 

The purpose of AI and ML projects is to replicate the human thought process and enhance it with the computing power of modern-day technology. This can be something like creating an AI system that can analyze medical images and provide a diagnosis, a robot that can harvest crops on its own, a self-driving vehicle, and many other applications. In order to train the machine learning algorithms to recognize everything in their surrounding environment, researchers need tons of training data from which the system will learn. Such training datasets also need to be annotated with various data annotation methods so the computers can understand what they need to recognize. 

Such data annotation work is very time consuming, which is why a lot of companies outsource it to a service provider. It would also be too expensive and inefficient to do such work in-house because the time of your engineers and developers is too valuable to waste on such low-level tasks. Since it would be a much better decision to outsource such work, you need to be absolutely sure that your proprietary information will not be compromised. In the next section, we will tell you how you can ensure the safety and privacy of your data. 

How to Ensure the Safety and Privacy of Your Data

Data protection requires both IT security and rules about data handling. If we look at data security first, this includes things like data encryption for all communication, antivirus software installed on all computers, password rotations, and other security measures. Implementing the right security rules and making sure they are all followed is a bit more difficult since the human factor is involved. You have to educate your employees about the best safety practices since even one wrong click can lead to a virus. A lot of companies are worried about individual employees leaking sensitive information. This is why you need to make sure that the outsourcing provider you choose is compliant with the latest international regulations. Let’s take a look at these next. 

Main Security Regulations to Look for in an Outsourcing Provider

Mindy Support possesses ISO certificates and is fully compliant with all of the rules and regulations mentioned above. The main internationally recognized security regulations include: 

1. ISO 270001

These are internally recognized information security guidelines. Using them enables organizations of any kind to manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details, or information entrusted by third parties. Companies that possess such certification are very trustworthy with your data. 

2. ISO 9001

The ISO 9001 looks into whether or not a company’s internal processes are set up correctly to meet the obligations they made to their clients. This includes a variety of factors such as the frequency and quality of the communication with the client, the quality of the leadership team and how they go about implementing projects. Organizations that have this certification usually have higher customer satisfaction rates and better operational efficiency. 

3. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

GDPR is the toughest privacy and security law in the world. Though it was drafted and passed by the European Union (EU), it imposes obligations onto organizations anywhere, so long as they target or collect data related to people in the EU. The regulation was put into effect on May 25, 2018. The GDPR will levy harsh fines against those who violate its privacy and security standards, with penalties reaching into the tens of millions of euros.
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4. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)

HIPAA was passed by Congress in 1996. HIPAA does the following:

• Provides the ability to transfer and continue health insurance coverage for millions of American workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs;
• Reduces health care fraud and abuse;
• Mandates industry-wide standards for health care information on electronic billing and other processes; and
• Requires the protection and confidential handling of protected health information

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5. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

 The CCPA allows consumers to control the information companies can collect about them. This includes the right to know exactly what information is collected and how it will be used. A lot of times, this data will be sold to a third party. Also, if they don’t want their personal data to be stored with that company they can opt to delete it. They can also opt out of having their information resold as well.
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Mindy Support is Fully Compliant With All of the Above Mentioned Regulations 

Mindy Support possesses ISO certificates and is fully compliant with all of the rules and regulations mentioned above. This is very important since it gives you peace of mind that your information will remain secure. Since a lot of companies are worried about sharing sensitive data with other service providers there needs to be some way of calming those fears and this is exactly what Mindy Support aimed to do by becoming compliant with all of the ISO requirements and legislation from the US and the EU. 

Why Choose Mindy Support as Your Outsourcing Destination?

When we first start working together, we sit down with you to clearly understand your requirements and your business goals. We maintain constant communication throughout this initial process and the duration of the project as well. It is also worth noting that, thanks to our experience and size, we are able to assemble even the most sizable team within a short time frame allowing you to meet deadlines. We can also scale your team quickly and without sacrificing the quality of the annotation work thanks to our rigorous QA process. 

Give Yourself the Peace of Mind That Mindy Support Offers

Even though data annotation is a relatively low-level task, it is essential to the overall success of your project. Mindy Support understands that which is why we have all kinds of internal processes to make sure all of the tasks are done right the first time. We also understand the importance of security in building trust with our clients. Even though we have built up an impressive portfolio of clients including GAFAM and Fortune 500 companies, we do everything we can to ease the security and privacy concerns of our clients. This is why clients continue to trust us and why we went to great lengths to get all of the ISO certifications and make sure our policies are in compliance with US and EU legislation.