This month marks the start of the 12-month countdown for organisations to be ready to comply with either – or in some cases both – the General Data Protection Regulations or the NIS Directive becoming law in Europe on the 25th and 10th of May 2018, respectively.
Whether you have started working towards compliance in the last year or not, the deadline to be ready for these new laws is fast approaching, and the pressure to review, change and test new cybersecurity systems increasing.
So, what’s the current state of mind of cybersecurity and business leaders as we count down? In research recently commissioned for Palo Alto Networks, we found that IT security professionals across Europe are generally optimistic about how these laws will help avoid personal data and cybersecurity breaches. However, there is still some hesitation when it comes to how easy the change will be. What is immediately clear is there are vast geographical differences when it comes to openness to new ideas; senior management in countries like Sweden are least likely (28 per cent) to accept suggested ideas for change from internal stakeholders, whereas Dutch respondents were far more willing to adopt new ways to best protect their organisation (39 per cent).
A fear of the unknown continues to present a significant roadblock over the next year, and not all businesses can see the benefit in change. Only a third of respondents think they will get the support to implement the necessary changes, while the majority still feel there will be obstacles to overcome.
With only one in ten respondents admitting that pressure to comply with new laws would make them open to ideas for change, there is a major shift in perception needed to ensure European businesses are ready come May 2018. Our research found that:
With all that in mind, there are several ways businesses can prepare themselves today ahead of May 2018:
To learn more about how you can prepare your business for the upcoming new laws, please see the following Palo Alto Networks assets:
Register for Ignite ’17 Security Conference
Vancouver, BC June 12–15, 2017
Ignite ’17 Security Conference is a live, four-day conference designed for today’s security professionals. Hear from innovators and experts, gain real-world skills through hands-on sessions and interactive workshops, and find out how breach prevention is changing the security industry. Visit the Ignite website for more information on tracks, workshops and marquee sessions.
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