Page 63 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2018

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Five GDPR Mistakes that Will Put Your Company in Hot Water

by Steve Dickson, CEO, Netwrix

Only 29 percent of small businesses and 41 percent of midsize businesses in Europe have taken steps to
prepare for the GDPR, according to IDC, and there’s no reason to think that organizations elsewhere in the
world are any more ready for the May 2018 deadline.

But panicking can do more harm than good — you’re likely to make costly missteps. If your organization isn’t
prepared, you definitely need to get moving. But be sure to avoid these five common mistakes that can harm
your company:

Mistake 1: Rushing the process.

With the GDPR deadline looming and compliance challenges in the headlines every day, it’s easy to run mad
and make bad decisions. The most absurd example might be British airline Flybe: In their eagerness to prepare
for the GDPR, they crafted an email advising users to update their personal information and marketing
preferences, and sent it their entire customer base — including people who had unsubscribed from the
company’s emails. That rash action violated an existing law, the Privacy and Electronic Communication
Regulations (PECR), and got the company slapped with a £70,000 fine.