The General Data Protection Regulation became the law of the land this time last year. Whether you are hosting birthday celebrations for this data protection and privacy ruler or not, it has certainly impacted some of the most basic of organizations’ functions. This interesting topic came to us from Information Management in their article, “One year old, GDPR marks a number of successes and inspirations.”

After one year, can we say it was a success? According to one survey, there were 60,000 reports of data breaches across Europe during the first eight months of GDPR. Before GDPR, only about 18,000 to 20,000 breaches being reported each year.

If you go by these numbers, the GDPR has been a major success. There are many more companies who now have the incentives they need to engage in reporting data breaches.

If you sense a but coming, there is and it is in the form of fines. According to the European Data Protection Board, the first nine months of the GDPR saw fines levied in the amount of almost 56 million euros. And these weren’t just for technological giants like Google. Smaller companies have been hit as well.

Melody K. Smith

Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.