Equifax’s Reminder: European GDPR On the Horizon

Dateline: September 15, 2017

Welcome to our Friday WRAP – one thought-provoking idea to think about over the weekend.

The barrage of articles about Equifax reminds us that our data is not protected, even when we think it is.  As this breach becomes better understood, it raises all types of questions such as how do we protect ourselves? to who would do this? to what is the liability? to will Equifax be able to overcome this disaster? This time, about 1/2 of the people in the US are affected and each one of us are painfully reminded that we, personally, need to manage our personal information and protect ourselves. Companies, government and other trusted entities are vulnerable and, at least right now, unable to protect the information they have collected on us.   European lawmakers think they have a solution: the  European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  Back in March 2017, we published a blog about the GDPR, set to become law in Europe in May 2018.  But it’s once again making headlines in the shadow of the Equifax breach.   As a recent column in Information Management, Equifax and GDPR- What Organizations need to Know, pointed out,

The Equifax incident, when viewed through the lens of the upcoming GDPR regulation, serves as a stark reminder for organizations that they need to prepare for the inevitable breach. Preparing for GDPR is an opportunity for every organization to take the right steps to identify what sensitive data they have, determine how it should be secured, and create a process for how they will respond when an attack occurs.

What has your organization done to prepare for GDPR?  Are you sure you have protected the consumer’s data you have stored about us?

That’s a WRAP!  Have a great weekend!

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