Purpose-Built for UK Privacy Operations
Sylure is designed from the ground up for teams operating under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 — from shadow data discovery to defensible DSAR response.
UK GDPR
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (retained EU law) sets out obligations for how organisations collect, use, and protect personal data of individuals in the UK.
DPA 2018
The Data Protection Act 2018 supplements UK GDPR, covering law enforcement processing, intelligence services, and applying exemptions and derogations.
ICO oversight
The Information Commissioner's Office is the UK's independent supervisory authority for data protection and privacy. It has the power to issue fines up to £17.5M or 4% of global turnover.
Data subject rights
UK GDPR grants individuals rights including access (DSAR), erasure, rectification, restriction of processing, data portability, and the right to object.
How Sylure Helps
Six core UK GDPR requirements and how Sylure addresses each one.
Article 5 — Data Minimisation & Storage Limitation
Personal data must be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary. It should be kept no longer than necessary for the purpose.
How Sylure helps
Sylure's upload-based discovery identifies what personal data exists in your exports, files, and archives — so you can find and address unnecessary data holdings. Retention controls auto-expire raw bundles after 30 days, and derived data can be deleted on demand.
Article 15 — Right of Access (DSAR)
Data subjects have the right to obtain confirmation of whether their personal data is being processed, and to access that data. Organisations must respond within one calendar month.
How Sylure helps
Sylure's DSAR Discovery Tool lets you search across uploaded bundles using common identifiers, consolidate matches to a single subject, and export evidence-backed bundles — replacing manual folder-and-spreadsheet approaches.
Article 30 — Records of Processing Activities
Controllers must maintain records of processing activities including purposes, categories of data subjects and personal data, recipients, transfers, and retention periods.
How Sylure helps
Every upload creates an asset-linked inventory with category breakdowns, source traceability, and processing timestamps. Audit logs record who accessed what and when — supporting your Article 30 records.
Article 32 — Security of Processing
Controllers and processors must implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure security appropriate to the risk.
How Sylure helps
Role-based access control (Admin / Analyst / Viewer), evidence masking by default, hash-first identity indexing (HMAC-SHA256), audit logging, and transport encryption. See the Trust Centre for full security controls.
Article 35 — Data Protection Impact Assessments
Where processing is likely to result in high risk, organisations must carry out a DPIA before processing begins.
How Sylure helps
Sylure's exposure mapping identifies high-severity personal data concentrations across your data holdings — helping you understand where DPIAs may be needed and providing evidence to support them.
Article 5(2) — Accountability
The controller must be able to demonstrate compliance with GDPR principles.
How Sylure helps
Exportable audit logs, scoped analytics, and traceable review decisions give privacy teams the documentation they need to demonstrate accountability to stakeholders, the ICO, and auditors.
Identifier Detection Optimised for UK Data
Sylure detects personal data categories defined under UK GDPR, with identifier patterns specifically tuned for UK formats.
Detection patterns are continuously expanded. Sylure also validates IBAN numbers across 40+ countries and phone numbers across EU regions.
Aligned With ICO Guidance
Sylure's approach to evidence handling, data minimisation, and DSAR response is informed by published ICO guidance on subject access requests, data protection by design, and accountability frameworks.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Sylure provides asset-level discovery and evidence that feeds into your ROPA, but it is not a ROPA tool itself. The outputs (category breakdowns, source mappings, audit logs) are designed to support and enrich your existing records.
Sylure's audit logs, traceable review decisions, and evidence exports provide documentation that can support your response to ICO enquiries. However, Sylure is an operational tool — legal advice should come from your legal team or external counsel.
Sylure's scanning detects categories that may include special category data (health identifiers like NHS numbers, for example). Evidence masking and role-based access help ensure appropriate handling. Your organisation remains responsible for applying the correct lawful basis and safeguards for special category processing.
When a subject requests erasure, Sylure's DSAR Discovery Tool helps you find where their data appears across uploads. You can then coordinate deletion with the relevant systems. Sylure itself provides customer-controlled deletion of bundles and derived data.
As a data processor, Sylure's registration obligations depend on the nature of processing. Contact us for details about our data protection arrangements, including our DPA and sub-processor information.
See Sylure on your UK data
Walk through shadow data discovery, DSAR response, and governance reporting — all aligned to UK GDPR.