Marketers may at last be waking up to the looming EU General Data Protection Regulation – even if they feel unprepared – but their colleagues in technology departments appear as clueless as ever, with many not knowing what it is, what it is for and how hard they will be hit in the pocket.
That is according to a study, carried out by encrypted data storage provider iStorage, during its annual event in London which quizzed IT managers, chief information officers, IT senior executives, chief technical officers, company directors and IT consultants – many of whom will be responsible for implementing the necessary changes.
A fifth of respondents (20%) did not know that non-compliance with GDPR could lead to fines of up to €20m, or 4% of the company’s annual turnover, while over a quarter (28%) did not know they had to report a data breach within 72 hours.
iStorage chief executive John Michael said: “2016 is the year of data security, it is the topic on many organisations’ lips and rightly so. GDPR will enter into effect during May 2018, and although this may seem a long way off, this period should be utilised effectively as this is the minimal time that companies will need to come to terms with new data obligations.
“We are discovering that some IT professionals are still unaware of the impact the regulation will have to their business and more worryingly, if it even applies to them.”
Last week, a DMA study revealed awareness of GDPR had rocketed over the past few months, with just 6% of the marketers surveyed having never heard of it. However, two-thirds did state they thought their businesses were still unprepared for the changes.
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