It has been reported that Vodafone Spain has been hit with the highest ever fine to be issued by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) with a total of $7.16m in relation to EU’s GDPR violations. A total of 191 complaints about the telecommunications company’s consent and data-processing practices were factored into the AEPD’s decision.
Information Security Buzz (aka ISBuzz News) is an independent resource that provides the experts comments, analysis and opinion on the latest Information Security news and topics
<p>Every enterprise in or doing business in the EU should observe the fact that Vodafone Spain just received the highest fine ever to be issued by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) for overly aggressive marketing tactics and a failure to protect data. The nearly $10 million dollar fine is a tough one for any enterprise to absorb—chances are that you might be focusing on that particular aspect of the punitive measures taken by the AEPD, mostly because your organization probably doesn’t want to get hit with that type of tangible penalty.</p> <p> </p> <p>Consider this: a far worse repercussion is the reputational damage done. Consumers put their faith and trust in enterprises to observe data security and privacy mandates as spelled out by GDPR, LGPD, CCPA, POPIA, and other measures. When organizations fail to do that, customers take notice and subsequently seek out alternative organizations that can better protect them and their sensitive information. How can you avoid this far worse fate of damaged reputation? Take a data-centric approach to protecting your customers’ private, sensitive data through methods such as tokenization, which is quickly becoming the norm in enterprises seeking to go beyond bare-minimum compliance requirements. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of data-centric security, this turn of events should encourage you to explore it.</p>