Ready for the new General Data Protection Regulation?

Ahead of the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation, which will be binding in 15 months, companies have many doubts about the coming challenges. How should they prepare themselves? What changes do they need to tackle? Is the new regulation a help or a liability?...

To come up with answers to questions like these, the specialist technology innovation review IT User has invited a think tank of experts to share their views about this new scenario.

Javier Zubieta, Head of GMV’s Cybersecurity Business Development, was one of these expert guests, arguing that this type of legislation “helps to drive the sector. We welcome a law that is going to boost cybersecurity levels. We have already seen with the Spanish Data Protection Law and we’ll see it again with the new legislation, that two planes need to come together here. Firstly, the legal plane and secondly the technological processes. Learning the lesson of the past, we now need to tally speeds between both planes to be able to comply with the law”.

In the interests of becoming more practical Javier Zubieta pointed out that it is important to suit activities to the available budget. “All too often this is not done until there’s no choice. Some have been able to make preparations and they need to keep doing so in two crucial matters. Firstly, the breach notification, a totally new feature that is generating hot debate in companies. Secondly, we security firms have been publishing a good number of best practices on how to meet the new legislation, especially from a technological point of view. This spadework is crucial for any firm that might be affected. Nonetheless, it will not be until May 2018 that many turn their attention to the matter”.

The changes are sweeping and time is short. The good news is that Spain, along with Germany, is one of the best prepared countries so less work remains to be done. In the words of Javier Zubieta: “I would argue that in this case we Spanish don’t need to have an inferiority complex; quite the contrary. As far as compliance with the new legislation is concerned, we match or outperform the best countries”.

See the complete panel discussion