General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) is a set of rules introduced to protect the personal data of European citizens, it was approved on 27th April 2016, and it will be implemented by 25th May 2018. The GDPR rules will become legally binding and will not require any further action from any of the EU member states. These laws are strict and carry substantial penalties.

Consequence of not complying with the requirements

The penalties are strict. If a company has violated any clause of this legislative bill unknowingly, he will be sent a warning letter. They follow a saying that “ignorance of the law is no excuse”.

The next legal action could be periodic audits of personal data of the company. It means your data will be vulnerable to an outside Auditor and a vigilant GDPR monitoring will observe these audits.

The strictest action is a fine of up to approximately $24 million or 4% of company’s total turnover, whichever is greater.

Cloud-based storage

The companies who use cloud-based storage for storing data are not exempted from GDPR requirements. It means if your organization is using Amazon, Microsoft or any other cloud-based service, he will be responsible for the protection of data on the online servers. To be clearer about it, the companies can’t blame Amazon or any third party cloud-based server for a data breach.

Anonymized data

GDPR also requires companies to protect the anonymous data, means the data that has been encrypted or processed in any other way to hide the identification of the subject. The type of data not only involves name, social security number or credit card information but it also includes data regarding political affiliations, religious believes and sexual orientation.

According to a survey, more than 87% of British are vulnerable to being identified by only considering three data points. For example, if you enter a three-digit zip code, gender and date of birth, you can easily identify the person. 

Companies who have even established a security operation centre, also require keeping some extra checks on their data to remain safe from these punishments.

Data for marketing purpose

Nothing is exempted from complying these legislations. The laws also discourage to give away the data to marketers who will promote your business using this information. Same as the restriction for cloud-based servers, the data shared with these organizations will be treated as a violation of the laws of GDPR.

Although the restrictions seem too strict, but it will be beneficial for your organizations and the clients in the long run.