Four in Five IT Managers Are Unaware of Upcoming EU Data Protection Regulation

Four in Five IT Managers Are Unaware of Upcoming EU Data Protection Regulation - Sep 23 2014

Three out of five (61 per cent) IT managers admit that their organisations have not taken measures to be GDPR compliant

More than half (55 per cent) have not reviewed and adapted data destruction policies

A quarter (25 per cent) of IT managers do not currently have a process in place for data destruction

Epsom, UK - October 7th 2014 - New research from data recovery specialists, Kroll Ontrack, and data erasure experts, Blancco shows that more than four out of five (81 per cent) IT managers across Europe are unfamiliar with the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The GDPR aims to unify data protection laws to meet the challenges of the digital age and in particular, strengthen the protection of online personal data. When enacted into law, it will require all businesses handling EU residents' data to delete personal information on request or when it is no longer required by the organisation and encourage the use of auditable deletion procedures for companies processing personal data. As such, the research shows that 57 per cent of the 660 IT managers surveyed believe they will be directly affected by the regulation.

Kroll Ontrack and Blancco caution that non-compliant businesses could receive significant fines, and are at risk of large scale reputational damage. Data breach sanctions will range from Euro 250,000 or 0.5% of annual worldwide turnover for less serious breaches, up to Euro 100,000,000 or 5% of annual worldwide turnover for more serious infractions.2

According to the research, three out of five (61 per cent) IT managers said that their organisations have not taken measures to achieve compliance with the pending regulation, with more than half (55 per cent) failing to review and adapt data destruction policies. A further quarter (25 per cent) admitted to not having a process in place to deal with data destruction. Organisations still have a great deal of work to do to ensure they comply with the data protection guidelines of the new GDPR regulation. Any business holding personal data on EU residents, be it online or offline, will have to abide by the new rules says Paul Le Messurier, Programme and Operations Manager at Kroll Ontrack.

He continues: One solution to this problem is to consult a certified, full service data destruction and erasure provider to assist in the secure deletion of unrequired data. Both Kroll Ontrack and Blancco offer the necessary tools and services to securely erase data from company servers as well as any other devices such as mobiles and tablets, ensuring that data does not fall in to the wrong hands.

Kim V is nen, Managing Director of Blancco commented: Blancco's Data Erasure Management (DEM) solution can help organisations achieve compliance with the coming regulation. DEM is the most practical way to avoid fines and demonstrate compliance to auditors and also assure customers that their data will be removed when required.

Blancco provides secure DEM across the whole asset lifecycle for individual files and folders, laptops, flash media, mobile devices, servers and the cloud. Each erasure provides a time-stamped, tamper-proof certificate for a comprehensive audit trail.

1 Kroll Ontrack and Blancco surveyed 660 IT managers across Europe between August 2014 and September 2014.

2 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT%2BREPORT%2BA7-2013-0402%2B0%2BDOC%2BXML%2BV0//EN&language=EN

About Blancco Blancco is the proven data erasure solution for millions of users around the globe. As the global leader in data erasure and computer reuse solutions, Blancco offers the most certified data erasure solutions within the industry. The company serves users across a wide range of industries, including banking, finance, government and defense. The company's products are highly valued by IT asset disposal professionals around the world. Blancco operates from an extensive network of international offices and partners across Europe, North America, the Middle East, Russia, Asia and Australasia. Blancco is a wholly owned subsidiary of Regenersis, a strategic outsourcing partner to many of the worlds leading consumer technology companies. More information is available at www.blancco.com.

About Kroll Ontrack Inc. Kroll Ontrack provides technology-driven services and software to help legal, corporate and government entities as well as consumers manage, recover, search, analyse, and produce data efficiently and cost-effectively. In addition to its award-winning suite of software, Kroll Ontrack provides data recovery, data destruction, electronic discovery and document review. For more information about Kroll Ontrack and its offerings please visit: www.krollontrack.co.uk, follow @KrollOntrackUK on Twitter or subscribe to the Kroll Ontrack Data Blog.

Media Contacst:

Kroll Ontrack

Judith Massey - judith.massey@citigatedr.co.uk

Amrit Nijjer - amrit.nijjer@citigatedr.co.uk

+44 (0) 207 282 2803

Blancco

Johanna Pakkanen - johanna.pakkanen@blancco.com +358 440 386 117

LINK:	http://www.blancco.com/uk/company-info/press-releases/2014/four-in-fiv...
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