A third of data protection pros admit a breach in last 12 months

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25 January 2016

A third of Irish data protection professionals admit to having suffered a data breach within the last 12 months. Nearly half (45%) fear that employee negligence is the biggest data threat, followed by external hackers and end user devices with sensitive data.

These are some of the headline findings from and Irish Computer Society survey of more than 150 Irish data protection professionals in December. The full results of the survey will be released at the ADPO’s National Data Protection Conference on 27 and 28 January.

Although 87% have an information security policy in place, 33% have experienced a data breach within the past 12 months, with most (71%) being attributed to the inadvertent actions of staff members.

Ahead of the implementation of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation, the majority do not feel fully prepared for it, with just 40% taking measures to adapt.

“This survey marks the next important step in creating an objective body of knowledge to work from within the field,” said Lanre Oluwatona, data protection consultant, ICS. “Data protection, privacy and cyber security are topics that are constantly evolving, each with its own challenges, so statistics of this kind are vital in helping organisations adapt to changing needs.”

The conference takes place over two days, with day one consisting of workshops and tutorials at the ICS HQ in Ballsbridge, Dublin, while day two is the main conference at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. Some of the notable speakers are Helen Dixon, Data Protection Commissioner and Giovanni Buttarelli, EU Data Protection Supervisor.

Other speakers include Seamus Carroll, head of the Data Protection Unit at the Department of Justice and Equality and former chair of the EU Working Group on DP reforms; Andrea Simmons, former chief information security officer for HP Enterprise Security; Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Lordan of Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and Brian Honan, internationally respected information security expert.

To register for this event go to: www.ics.ie/events