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  • Ward Solutions and IBM outline the need for GDPR…

    By Vincent Naughton on March 3, 2017

    On Friday 10th February in the Royal College of Physicians, Dublin, Ward Solutions and IBM presented the second ‘Will GDPR drive your security strategy in 2016?’ seminar. The event aimed to outline the need for companies to place increased focus on their preparations for impending GDPR legislation, and attendees were interested in learning how GDPR was going to affect their particular industry and about the steps they could take to become compliant with the legislation.

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      Ward Solutions and IBM's GDPR event - image
      Ward Solutions and IBM outlined the need for companies to place increased focus on their preparations for GDPR at a recent event held in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in Dublin.

      On Friday 10th February in the Royal College of Physicians, Dublin, Ward Solutions and IBM presented the second ‘Will GDPR drive your security strategy in 2016?’ seminar. The event proved to be extremely popular, with over 90 attendees joining from the business, insurance, telecom, legal, education, medical and IT sectors. Attendees were interested in learning how GDPR was going to affect their particular industry and what steps they could take to become compliant with the legislation.
      James Cant-Parton, IBM’s software account manager for Ireland, welcomed delegates gave an outline of what the seminar would cover and introduced the speakers.
      Implications of the new GDPR legislation
      The first section of the seminar was given by Ward Solutions Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Paul Hogan and group solicitor, Aisling Hennessy who spoke about GDPR and its implications. GDPR introduces severe ramifications for businesses that fail to achieve compliance. Organisations that suffer a data breach and who are found to be non-compliant will be liable to fines of 4% of worldwide turnover or €20m, depending on which is greater. In addition there is increased scope for individuals who have suffered material or non-material damage to bring actions against companies for an infringement of their rights under GDPR.
      In this section Aisling went through the key elements of the GDPR legislation and Paul spoke about the practical implications of this in terms of how it would affect businesses. Aisling highlighted how readable the legislation is, and urged those responsible for IT security to familiarise themselves with it. As well as providing an overview of the tougher sanctions that will result from GDPR, Paul and Aisling outlined areas affected by the new legislation, including: increased territorial scope, ramifications for international data transfers, new responsibilities for data processors, the need to recruit a Data Protection Officer, and much more besides.
      Data flows were highlighted as a key element for companies to be vigilant about to become GDPR compliant. Related to this, Paul mentioned that international data transfers could prove to be a potential minefield for companies as third parties could hold data outside the EU. Aisling noted that, as it stands, the US Privacy Shield does not provide adequate protection for European citizens.
      Paul talked about how companies must now demonstrate compliance with the new legislation and Aisling noted that GDPR is about embedding a privacy culture into an organisation.
      GDPR also establishes new rights for the individual. One of these rights is the right to be forgotten, which gives individuals the right for data that pertains to them and is “inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant” to be removed online.
      Under the new legislation it will be mandatory for companies to report a breach of data within 72 hours of discovering the breach. Aisling and Paul discussed the role of the Data Protection Officer under GDPR and how some companies may outsource this role.
      GDPR sanctions - image
      Organisations that suffer a data breach and who are found to be non-compliant to the new regulation will be liable to fines of 4% of worldwide turnover or €20m, depending on which is greater.

      First steps towards GDPR compliance
      The second section of the seminar was presented by Brendan Fay, Ward Solutions’ Principal Information Security Consultant, who talked about the steps that organisations need to take to become GDPR compliant. The final speaker to take to the podium was Allan Cahill, Ward Solutions’ Principal Secure Application Development Consultant. Following on from Brendan’s presentation, Allan discussed the range of solutions that companies can utilise to achieve GDPR compliance.
      Comprehensive understanding of GDPR requirements
      Following the event, members of Ward Solutions’ team were on hand to answer further information security and GDPR related questions from delegates.
      The event was followed by a light lunch, which provided delegates with an opportunity to network and discuss the range of topics that were presented. The event was a great success and all attendees left with a much more comprehensive understanding of GDPR, providing them with the basis to re-examine their organisations’ current data policies and procedures to ensure that they are on the right path when it comes to meeting the requirements of the new law.
      For more information on what your organisation can do to ensure GDPR compliance, call us at +353 1 642 0100 or e-mail us at sales@ward.ie

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