Nearly 25% of Companies Haven’t Hired a Data Protection Officer: Imperva

PRESS RELEASE

Redwood Shores, Calif. – August 29, 2017 – Imperva, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMPV), committed to protecting business-critical data and applications in the cloud and on-premises, today announced the results of a survey of 310 IT security professionals taken at the Infosecurity Europe 2017 trade show. The results suggest that while the industry is preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), 22 percent haven’t yet hired a Data Protection Officer (DPO). Of those with no DPO, 52 percent aren’t planning on hiring a DPO until the second half of 2018 or beyond – after GDPR enforcement commences.

“A crucial takeaway from this survey is that companies need to be engaging with GDPR compliance now,” said Terry Ray, CTO of Imperva. “The fact that a high percentage of respondents said they had already hired a DPO is encouraging. GDPR will rear its head in ways that nobody predicted, so engaging early and being ready for every possibility is absolutely crucial.”

Another revelation from the survey is that when it comes to GDPR, many security professionals are banking on help from machine learning technology. Over half (55 percent) of the security professionals indicated that they believed AI or machine learning solutions could bear some of their considerable workload in the next three to five years, with 27 percent suggesting it could even be within the next year or two.

About GDPR

The GDPR gives individuals in the EU more control over their personal data and is designed to make sure that their personal information is protected, even outside the EU. It applies to businesses that offer goods and services to data subjects in the EU or monitor behavior of data subjects in the EU, regardless of their industry or location of the business. It becomes effective on May 25, 2018. Organizations are focusing on GDPR compliance because fines for certain violations may be up to the greater of €20 million or four percent of total worldwide annual turnover. Article 37 of the GDPR requires any organization processing personal data on a large scale to retain an independent DPO.

Imperva provides data discovery, data masking, and data compliance solutions that can assist organizations in their GDPR compliance efforts. To learn how Imperva helps organizations prepare for GDPR, visit bit.ly/2xHq743.

Survey Methodology
Conducted June 6-8 in London, at Insecurity Europe 2017, Europe’s largest security focused conference, the in-person survey is based on responses from attendees including IT professionals, managers and executives.

To view the full survey results, visit bit.ly/2wiNy49. To learn more about The GDPR job market, read our study at bit.ly/2vDovag.