A recent study found 37 percent of global organizations are unsure if they need to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards.
Researchers examined the views of more 1,600 organizations and also found that of those who don't believe the law applies to their organization, 14 percent ore respondents collect personal data from EU citizens, while 28 percent of respondents who were unsure about GDPR compliance also collect this type of information, according to the study sponsored by WatchGuard Technologies
In order to comply, 51 percent of respondents believe that their organization will need to make significant changes to their IT infrastructure while only 10 percent of respondents believe their company is currently 100 percent ready for when the regulations go into effect.
Fortunately some are taking note of their short comings with 48 percent of respondents' organizations reporting they are seeking or might seek compliance assistance from an outside party.
“Penalties for noncompliance are steep and the deadline is just around the corner,” Corey Nachreiner, chief technology officer of WatchGuard said in a press release. “Companies stand to lose four percent of their worldwide revenue if they haven't met all the requirements by next May. The only way to prevent unnecessary fines and frustration is to take a good hard look at the criteria, assemble a GDPR plan of action and begin implementing it immediately.”