Who is a whistleblower?
A whistleblower is a person who reports (signals) irregularities that have occurred or are still occurring in the workplace, professional environment or for which the employer is responsible. A whistleblower acts in the common interest, always acts in good faith and his/her report is based on factual grounds. Most irregularities and abuses at workplaces have been detected thanks to the reports.
What do the terms whistleblowing and whistleblower mean?
Whistleblowing means reporting irregularities. A whistleblower is someone who „blows the whistle” to alert you to a disturbing situation at work.
The Whistleblowers Directive
The Whistleblower Protection Directive is the colloquial name of Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of whistleblowers. The Directive was published on 26 November 2019 in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force on 17 December of the same year. The Directive was created to protect EU whistleblowers (so-called whistleblowers) from retaliation. It defines who is protected, how a breach can be reported, and which entities are obliged to comply with its provisions and implement the relevant procedures.
How does the Sygnanet work?
After registering in the system, a company receives a website address intended for receiving reports from whistleblowers. On this website, the whistleblower writes the text of the report and attaches attachments (if any). The text of the report together with attachments is encrypted and sent to the company at which the whistleblower works. Only the recipient of the report can decrypt the message. The recipient can reply to the whistleblower. The whistleblower will read the message using the request ID and the assigned reading password.
How quickly can Sygnanet be implemented?
You can use the platform immediately after registering your company in the system. Additionally, we will implement the Sygnanet system in your company, train notification recipients and employees and provide access to the educational platform at no additional charge. Arrange a free presentation.
Is my report definitely anonymous?
A report via the Sygnanet website can be completely anonymous. If your employer decides to accept anonymous receives, the recipient cannot in any way check who the sender of the message is. The whistleblower only receives an ID, thanks to which they can check whether their message has been read (or read the recipient's reply). If the whistleblower wishes to remain anonymous, they must remember not to provide any personal data or other information which could lead to their identification.
Can I report irregularities if I only witnessed the incident?
A whistleblower can also report irregularities if he witnesses an event, but his report must be based on events that actually took place. This means that a whistleblower cannot presume that something happened or interpret events subjectively. A whistleblower always reports in good faith and therefore believes that the knowledge they have is sufficient to report a disturbing phenomenon.
If I have evidence of violation (photos, documents, etc.) can I attach it to the report?
The form on the Sygnanet website has the possibility of adding an attachment. The whistleblower can use this function to attach to the message evidence that a given irregularity is taking place. This can be photographs, documents, audio, or video recordings etc.
What is the implementation of the Sygnanet service in the employer's company?
During the registration process, a dedicated website is created for each employer, the address of which the employer provides to its employees for submitting reports. At the same time, the employer provides us with the e-mail address of a person who is responsible for handling whistleblower reports. The content of the report placed on this website by the whistleblower is forwarded by e-mail to this person.
Can the signalling system for Sygnanet employees be personalised?
The Sygnanet employee signalling system can be personalised. As a result, you will receive a ready-made page on a subdomain with the company name dedicated to the employees of the company.
Is the Sygnanet employee signalling system a universal solution for every industry?
The Sygnanet employee signalling system is compliant with the EU Whistleblower Directive, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and is a universal solution for every industry.
How do you protect the identity of whistleblowers and the content of their reports?
We ensure the anonymity and security of both the whistleblower and the employer on several levels:
- Anonymity of the whistleblower's contact with the sygnanet server:
- using a proxy server to anonymise contacts with the service
- not collecting any data from the whistleblower
- changing the IP number of the signalling device
- deleting server logs after each contact
- not using subdomains
- creating a notification e-mail to the recipient by the server and not by the whistleblower
- Security of the whistleblower's content:
- Encrypting the content of the transmitted notification (on the whistleblower's computer) with encryption of the transmitted notification content (on the whistleblower's computer) with the public key of the notification recipient
- Possibility of decrypting the content of the notification only by an agreed recipient (with a private key)
- Forwarding the content of the report from the whistleblower's device to the server only in an encrypted file
- Safety of the feedback contact:
- The company's designated whistleblower recipient forwards the return message to the server, not to the whistleblower
- This message is marked with an ID and a password that only the whistleblower knows and only the whistleblower can read it from the server
- The return message also contains an automatic confirmation of the reading (decryption) of the notification by the designated recipient
- The whistleblower's access traces to the server are deleted as described above
- Employer's security:
- Independent (dedicated) page for reports addressed to the employer
- Record of occurrence of each report (with encrypted content)
- Record of transmission of each report to the designated recipient
- Record of acknowledgement of receipt (decryption) of notification by designated recipient
- Return contact record
How does the service organise acceptance, handover and return contact?
- The company receives a website address for receiving whistleblower reports.
- On this page the whistleblower writes the report text and includes attachments (if any).
- The report text with attachments is encrypted and sent to the company where the whistleblower works. Only the recipient of the report can decrypt the message.
- The recipient can reply to the whistleblower on the request. The whistleblower will read the Message using the request ID and the assigned reading password.