GET YOUR DATA READY FOR UK GDPR

GDPR data privacy regulations have not let up on their enforcement of customer data protection compliance. Market analysts such as Gartner cite that more than 80% of enterprise’s data fall in the category of unstructured (or dark) data. This means that customer Private Information (PI) and sensitive business data are primarily located within the email attachments, archived files of employees, local shared folders and in cloud-based storage drives. 

This data is typically accessed only by manual means, and with the voluminous data sprawl of many cloud-based repositories, it’s nearly impossible to manually map and protect this sensitive and regulated data with speed and accuracy. In essence, privacy compliance is impossible

Many enterprises who are waiting to invest in data protection have invested significantly in collaborative software to facilitate “working-from-home”. They also accelerated their adoption of the cloud. Suddenly the gap is wide in organisations’ readiness to protect their data from cyber threats and data leakage as opposed to their very extended attack surface and increased ease of file sharing.

In addition to data retention restrictions, consumers have the right to request that their data be erased from all databases (on premise, in the cloud, and in SasS repositories). Gartner claims that each request would cost a company $2k to $4k in immeasurable time if done manually. In addition, in the event of a data breach, a company must report on exactly which data was compromised within 72 hours to the ICO. This tremendous challenge given the inaccessibility of unstructured data is both expensive, timely, and usually unsuccessful leading to expensive fines

Before the pandemic, many organizations had a cloud adoption strategy. Once it was clear that working-from-home was inevitable, many accelerated its cloud use via SaaS-based software. Overall, cloud use is forecasted to grow by 2025, at an annual rate of 17.5%.

Yet, does your cloud strategy include:

Minimizing data according to GDPR regulations?

Reducing your files to save up to 40% of storage and processing costs?

How to maintain access to the personal information (PI) and sensitive business data in your unstructured repository?

And finally, what’s your plan to protect that data?

Regardless of how many cloud-based platforms your organization uses, you can automate data file protection in a controlled sharing environment. Today, file classification is complicated by the many security and privacy policies that organizations must synchronize with its busines objectives. Keep in mind that file classification is not a one-time process but needs to be continually updated.

Organizations need a file classification system that can offer multiple, virtual file labels that sync the security, privacy and business operational policies before implementing the file label with continual update. This process is exactly what prevents the wrong information from getting into the wrong hands. This need is even more relevant in today’s SaaS-based, collaborative work environments in which employees can simply “right click” to send a file.