IT managers ill prepared for new EU data regulation

New research by Kroll Ontrack and Blancco suggests three out of five organisations have not taken measures for compliance with GDPR

New research from data recovery specialists, Kroll Ontrack, and data erasure outfit, Blancco, suggests that IT businesses are not prepared for new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), with four out of five IT managers unfamiliar with it.

The GDPR is designed to strengthen the protection of online personal data and will require all businesses handling EU residents' data to delete personal information on request or when it is no longer required by the organisation.

Data breach sanctions will range from €250,000 (£196,220) or 0.5 per cent of annual worldwide turnover for less serious breaches, to up to €100m or five per cent of annual worldwide turnover for more serious infractions, under the GDPR.

According to the research, three out of five IT managers said that their organisations have not taken measures to achieve compliance with the pending regulation, with 55 per cent failing to review and adapt data destruction policies.

A further 25 per cent said they did not have a process in place to deal with data destruction.

Paul Le Messurier, programme and operations manager at Kroll Ontrack, said: "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 will have to abide by the new rules.

"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," Le Messurier said.