Data protection confusion reigns for 8 in 10 business heads
A recent survey has shown that most organisations are confused about which party will be responsible for keeping their customers’ data safe, with more than 80 per cent believing that cloud service providers are responsible for data protection.
Of the 1,200 global organisations polled in a survey by Veritas Technologies, 83 per cent of respondents said they thought that cloud firms are responsible for protecting the data they process.
In addition, 69 per cent thought that they could hand on all responsibility for data protection, privacy and compliance to a service provider.
Under the new requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a piece of European legislation that will come into play across the EU and in the UK from 25th May 2018, data controllers – another name for organisation that collect and own customer information – are ultimately responsible for complying with new data protection laws.
Data processors, who include those that provide services to controllers, such as those offering cloud computing and other such services, are still required to maintain good standards but are not held responsible in the case of a breach.
Though enshrined in EU law, the requirements of the GDPR will be written into UK legislation thanks to the recently introduced UK Data Protection Bill, which encapsulates many of the same requirements.
Veritas’ survey also found that companies are going to spend more on cloud technologies, with spending on these services set to increase from 12 per cent of IT budgets last year to 18 per cent by 2018. Of those that already use a cloud platform, 58 per cent say they plan to expand their use.
Some of those polled still have reservations about getting too friendly with the cloud, however. A lack of skilled employees who can deal with cloud computing is of concern to 38 per cent of organisations, with limitations associated with legacy technology (37 per cent) and complicated migration plans (36 per cent) also a worry.
