Think your US business is not affected by GDPR Regulations? You’re probably wrong.
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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a mandate in the European Union (EU) that went into effect on May 25, 2018. It is designed to protect the confidential personal data and privacy of EU citizens. GDPR is the first global data protection law. That means, it applies to any company anywhere that processes data about European Union (EU) citizens. So, even if a business does not directly work with EU companies, it might have personal data pertaining to EU residents.
Technology, data security, and the way we use data is vastly different compared to the past two decades, which is what the GDPR attempts to rectify in its legislation. Customers, clients, subsidiaries, and partners are all data sources feeding into a business. As part of GDPR, every data source coming into an organization must be vetted and documented. GDPR defines personal data as "any information related to a natural person or ‘Data Subject’ that can be used to directly or indirectly identify the person.” If your company has any EU personal data or will ever possibly have personal data from a resident of the EU, it must be GDPR compliant.
As of March 2020, the fines for GDPR have been over 400M Euros!
GDPR’s global impact creates the perfect opportunity for a security evaluation at an enterprise level. Business leaders are being forced to take the time to properly understand their data landscape, which includes all data comings and goings. Taking the time and resources to dive into data processes and policies will help companies become more competitive rather than putting them behind.
When it comes to consumer confidence, improving security and compliance will always work in your favor. In short, companies should be embracing the level of consciousness that GDPR is creating in the business world.
