Blancco Technology Group Study Finds Global Organizations Don't Know Where All Customer Data Is Stored and Use Unreliable Data Removal Methods to Erase User Content
Atlanta and London, May 25, 2017 - EU GDPR is a game-changing piece of data protection legislation that goes into effect one year from today on May 25, 2018. While the legislation includes various components related to how organizations collect, store, manage and protect customer data, the right to be forgotten' gives individuals the right to have personal data erased. But if most organizations cannot locate where their customer data is stored (both on-premise and offsite), it will be difficult to fulfill right to be forgotten' requests, according to the EU GDPR: Countdown to Compliance research study released by Blancco Technology Group today.
As our study found, most organizations struggle with identifying and locating where all customer data is stored. 15 percent of German organizations admitted they don't know where all customer data is stored, both on-premise and offsite. Plus, the United States (13 percent) and United Kingdom (12 percent) are the two countries with the second and third highest percentages of respondents who don't know where all of their customer data is stored. For French organizations, however, the problem is somewhat worse with 20 percent saying their confidence level in their ability to find all customer data is low - ranging from extremely unconfident to slightly unconfident.
Richard Stiennon, Chief Strategy Officer, Blancco Technology Group, said, If an organization cannot find their customers' data, how will they be capable of erasing the data and complying with the EU GDPR's requirement? Once they do finally locate their customers' data, the next step is erasing the data permanently so that it can never be recovered. But as our study reveals, it's quite common for organizations to use insecure and unreliable data removal methods, such as basic deletion and free data wiping software, which further undermines their security and compliance to EU GDPR.
Key findings from the study include:
French, Spanish and German companies will beef up spending on EU GDPR-readiness technologies and processes. 85 percent of Spanish companies will spend up to $3.99 million, while 77 percent of French companies and 73 percent of German companies will spend the same amount. However, fewer American companies (65 percent) will spend this same amount.
72-hour breach notification, records maintenance of data processing activities and right to be forgotten' top the list of EU GDPR priorities. Meeting the 72-hour data breach notification rule (25 percent) and maintaining written records of data processing activities (25 percent) both ranked as the top priorities for American organizations. British organizations are most concerned with maintaining written records of data processing activities (22 percent). Conversely, 22 percent of Spanish organizations will prioritize the appointment of a Data Protection Officer.
Insufficient budgets, improper handling/storage of IT equipment and lack of data removal software are the biggest roadblocks to the right to be forgotten.' 12 percent of the American respondents cited insufficient budget as their biggest challenge, while it's also a challenge for French companies (17 percent), British companies (16 percent) and German companies (15 percent). Plus, improper handling/storage of IT equipment ranks as a major challenge for Spanish companies (28 percent), American companies (21 percent) and British companies (17 percent).
Insecure and unreliable data removal methods undermine security and compliance. Basic deletion is used by IT professionals in France (34 percent), US (28 percent), Spain (26 percent), UK (24 percent) and Germany (23 percent) to remove data. Meanwhile, free data wiping solutions (without proof) are used by organizations in Spain (35 percent), UK (33 percent), US (25 percent), Germany (27 percent), US (25 percent) and France (21 percent).
Data Protection Officers are uncommon and costly additions. 59 percent of American companies and 53 percent of British companies are most likely to assign the responsibilities of a DPO to an existing role. In Germany, however, companies would be somewhat inclined to hire a new, dedicated role (40 percent). Meanwhile, 16 percent of French companies would outsource the role to a consultant.
Change begins with a data protection gap analysis. 41 percent of American organizations are currently undergoing a gap analysis and 43 percent of British organizations plan to start in the second half of 2017. In addition, 50 percent of Spanish organizations will do so in the second half of this year. But 14 percent of the French respondents and 14 percent of the German respondents will wait until 2018.
Stiennon concluded, The first priority for all companies should be to gain a complete picture of all data that is collected, stored or processed that contains EU citizen information. After that, companies must ensure that adequate means of protecting that data have been implemented, such as access being restricted to authorized personnel, proper authentication being used and proper procedures for backing up and archiving data and data sanitization policies being implemented to remove data when it is no longer needed or requested by customers. In addition, any third parties that have access to the data must be evaluated to ensure they too have adequate controls in place.
For more details about the various requirements of the EU GDPR, visit the dedicated page on Blancco's website.
About Blancco Technology Group Blancco Technology Group (AIM: BLTG) is the de facto standard in data erasure and mobile device diagnostics. The Blancco Data Eraser solutions provide thousands of organizati
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...
02/12/2025
SVG India Announces Advisory Board; JioStar's Prashant Khanna Named ChairmanBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 11:15 am
Print This Story |...
02/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: New AI Production Tools Workshop' Features ESPN, F...
02/12/2025
Written and directed by Hailey Gates, Atropia won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival....
02/12/2025
The lightweight and highly portable CORVUS-RAVEN, recently demonstrated at the V...
02/12/2025
The lightweight, rugged Panther 2 tri-band VSAT delivers high-speed data communications for Internet, VPN connectivity and video transmission over commercial an...
02/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
02/12/2025
NGID volunteers in the United States
NGID volunteers in Mexico
NGID volunteers in India
NGID volunteers in Spain
NGID volunteers in Australia
NGID voluntee...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
SAN DIEGO Sony Electronics today introduced the Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5), the fifth generation of its Alpha 7 full-frame mirrorless lineup, powered by the newly dev...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on Nexstar Media Group's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna and se...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters has added a trio of media executives, Veronica Rodriguez, Matt Schnaars and Jeff Warshaw, to its board of di...
02/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
02/12/2025
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced a new Service Provider Partner agreement with NPC Media, the Australian managed p...
02/12/2025
DPA Microphones today announces the immediate availability of its new N-Series Digital Wireless Microphone System for customers throughout the U.S. In addition ...
02/12/2025
Hiltron Communications reports a well attended and successful Space Tech Expo exhibition, held at the Messe Bremen from Tuesday November 18 through Thursday Nov...
02/12/2025
The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in spec...
02/12/2025
SGM Lighting is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with ACT Entertainment, under which ACT will serve as the exclusive distributor for SGM's ne...
02/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Telia, the second largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's i...
02/12/2025
European cloud data protection specialist Keepit is expanding its sales network in the DACH region and has gained TIM AG, one of the leading value-added distrib...
02/12/2025
Featured products at ISE 2026
This year s ISE 2026 theme "Push Beyond" reflects Calrec s direction of travel. The company is dedicated to supporting the AV an...
02/12/2025
Czech Television, the national public broadcaster, has deployed one of the largest LiveU live production projects in the region for live sports and news coverag...
02/12/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced the release of v8.2 software for its ZEN and ZEN-W Series, bringing advanced cinematic camera se...
02/12/2025
Global provider of video streaming software and services, Accedo, and OTT platform provider, Magine Pro, have signed a binding agreement to carve out and merge ...
02/12/2025
With proven success in broadcast, OTT, and content supply chains, K.S Avinash set to scale Skandha's service-first approach across APAC
Skandha Media Servi...
02/12/2025
AJA Video Systems has joined the RAVENNA community, a network of partners devoted to advancing the RAVENNA standard for distributing real-time audio over intern...
02/12/2025
HUNT VALLEY, Md. Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV sta...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee have elected four industry veterans to three-year terms on the organization's board of direc...
02/12/2025
A new survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights how important social media is for younger consumers, with Gen Z spending 5.1 hours a day on so...
02/12/2025
Faculty Notes: Fall/Winter 2025 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.
December 1, 2025
By
Editorial Staff
The cast of Kind of M...
02/12/2025
Ring In The Holidays With Our Biggest Sale Ever On Ivory II Pianos!From now until December 31st, you can save 50% or more on every Ivory II piano and collection...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in America: How Stranger Things' Electrified the US Economy
Entertainment
02 December 2025
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to cl...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Trailer Teases New Rules, R...
02/12/2025
--
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Unio...
02/12/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Will Redefine Subscribers' Quality of Experience, Lowering Churn SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 2, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today...
02/12/2025
At AWS re:Invent, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic collab...
02/12/2025
S an Nollaig
Hollywood blockbusters The Banshees of Inisherin, Barbie and Oppenheimer make their Irish TV debut
Tune into the classics such as Love Actual...
02/12/2025
Showcasing fresh Irish storytelling and emerging talent Storyland 2025 signals a fantastic time for Irish drama
RT and F s ireann/Screen Ireland are proud to...
01/12/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
01/12/2025
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The crew, from left: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Vic...
01/12/2025
IRVINE, Calif. Wooden Camera has introduced its new Accessory Collection for the Canon EOS C50. The new lineup includes a low-profile, gimbal-ready cage, expand...
01/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for its Dec. 18 Open Commission Meeting that will include a vote on a report an...
01/12/2025
In most years, a graph of annual local TV ad spending is about as predictable as an electrocardiogram of a reasonably healthy patient in a doctor's office. ...
Blancco Technology Group Study Finds Global Organizations Don't Know Where All Customer Data Is Stored and Use Unreliable Data Removal Methods to Erase User Content
