ONE YEAR ON,
WHAT HAS BEEN THE
IMPACT OF GDPR ON
DATA SECURITY?
N
ew statistics from
the Department
for Digital, Culture,
Media and Sport
(DCMS) have
shown a reduction
in the percentage
of businesses suffering a cyberbreach
or attack in the last year. The 2019
Cyber Security Breaches Survey shows
that 32% of businesses identified a
cyberattack in the last 12 months,
down from 43% the previous year. The
reduction, the UK government says, is
partly due to the introduction of tough
new data laws under the Data Protection
Act and the General Data Protection
Regulations (GDPR).
A total of 30% of businesses and 36%
of charities have made changes to their
cybersecurity policies and processes
as a result of GDPR coming into
force in May 2018. However, of those
businesses that did suffer attacks, the
typical median number of breaches has
risen from four in 2018 to six in 2019.
Therefore, businesses and charities
suffering cyberattacks and breaches
appear to be experiencing more attacks
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Issue 13
It’s encouraging to
see that business
and charity
leaders are taking
cybersecurity more
seriously than
ever before.
than in previous years. Where a breach
has resulted in a loss of data or assets,
the average cost of a cyberattack on
a business has gone up by more than
£1,000 since 2018 to £4,180. Business
leaders are now being urged to do more
to protect themselves against cybercrime.
The most common breaches or attacks
were phishing emails, followed by
instances of others impersonating their
organisation online, viruses or other
malware including ransomware.
Digital Minister Margot James said:
“Following the introduction of new
data protection laws in the UK it’s
encouraging to see that business and
charity leaders are taking cybersecurity
more seriously than ever before.
“However, with less than three in 10 of
those companies having trained staff
to deal with cyberthreats, there’s still
a long way to go to make sure that
organisations are better protected.
“We know that tackling cyberthreats is not
always at the top of business and charities
list of things to do, but with the rising costs
of attacks, it’s not something organisations
can choose to ignore any longer.”
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