The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has fundamentally altered the way businesses collect, store and process data. In contrast to the United States, up until GDPR’s implementation, European businesses weren’t required to notify the authorities when their systems had been breached, meaning many data breaches — and the extent of them — were difficult to quantify. Since coming into effect just over a year ago, GDPR has ensured that European businesses report this information, forcing them to make their data woes public knowledge.
Strictly speaking, the regulation applies to any data regarding EU citizens, not just those held by European businesses, meaning international businesses can also be penalized for infringements. IT Governance states that more than 200,000 cases were reported in the first nine months, with fines totaling €56 million for GDPR breaches across 31 countries. So, since GDPR penalizes businesses that fail to comply with its legislation, we’re now seeing the true cost of data breaches.
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