It was reported yesterday that two giants of the tech world, Facebook and google, have been served with €6.7 billion in fines in just the first day of GDPR compliance; €3.9bn for Facebook and €3.7bn for Google. IT security experts commented below.
Adrian Bisaz, VP EMEA at CyberProof:
“GDPR is the new DDoS attack; Companies can become the target of millions of customers that want to make sure their new rights for privacy are met, and Facebook and Google as the most well-known tech giants are inevitably going to be in the crossfires when the lawsuits start rolling in, particularly in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The interpretation of the new rules and the way companies (and indeed legislators) will react to these new demands might still take time to sort out. What is not in any doubt is that companies need to take these new regulations serious and make sure they comply to the regulations, otherwise it is not just fines that will become an issue but also companies reputation and consumers satisfactions.”
Ben Herzberg, Director of Threat Research at Imperva:
“I doubt it if anyone was shocked about these lawsuits. Whenever there’s a regulation or legislation change there are those taking the opportunity to use that change.
I believe that we should focus on the positive: GDPR and other privacy regulations, while painful for organizations to apply, will give all of us better control of our personal data, and will make companies more conscious and careful about the way they store it.”
