Breaches of sensitive data held by organisations have always attracted steep fines from regulators, such as an NHS trust that was fined more than £300,000 when hard drives containing patient data turned up on eBay. And we reported only recently on the saga of the Lister hospital and the fine it incurred.
But the penalties for improper data management are about to get even steeper with the introduction of GDPR on May 25 next year. The directive will put in place a strict data protection compliance regime with fines of up to €20m or 4% of worldwide turnover for transgressors (whichever is higher).
Get ready now
You might think that the regulation does not apply to UK businesses in light of Britain’s decision to leave the EU. But, the UK is fully committed to GDPR. After all, the regulation is about data protection best practice and maintaining high levels of protection for the public.
So, in preparation for GDPR, you should read up on the facts and speak to peers and colleagues. Stay up to date with GDPR news from Naked Security. If there are data experts in your organisation, find them and speak to them too – maybe they already have measures in place. It is also worth getting in touch with both existing and new vendors to find out what their take is on GDPR.
Most importantly, you should sign up for our GDPR event to hear first-hand from industry experts:
When: Thursday 18 May 2017
Where: Royal Berkshire Conference Centre at the Madejski Stadium in Reading
During this GDPR event, we will discuss:
- How the new regulation will impact UK organisations
- Advice and tips on how to become GDPR compliant
Presentations include:
- ‘Myths and Legends – sifting GDPR fact from market hype’
Duncan Brown, Research Director, European Security Practice at IDC EMEA - ‘Global Privacy, GDPR and boiling frogs’
Steve Williams, Partner at Moore Stephens LLP and a leader in technology risk and regulation - ‘The GDPR: a new data protection regime for the UK’
Oliver Neil, Solicitor at Freeths LLP and a specialist commercial and information technology lawyer - ‘How Sophos can address the challenges thrown up by GDPR’
Anthony Merry, Director of Product Management for Data Protection at Sophos
There are limited places at this already popular GDPR event, so book your tickets now.