New regulations drive data migration

· Data protection delivers commercial advantage with 74% of respondents believing organisations that properly apply data protection laws will attract new customers

· Nearly half (48%) of organisations say they will migrate data as a result of regulation or changing government policies.

· Currently, it takes 11 days on average to report a breach.


McAfee, the cybersecurity company, has released a new report, Do you know where your data is? Beyond GDPR: Data residency insights from around the world, which shows that most organisations look to store their data in those countries with the most stringent data protection policies. A key finding was that nearly half (48%) of organisations will migrate their data to a new location because of regulations.

Based on a survey* of 800 senior business decision-makers from across multiple industry sectors and eight countries, the report provides a view of how organisations view 11 key data regulations from around the world. 

Source: McAfee infographic. Nearly half of respondents (47%) know exactly
where their data is located.

“It’s critical that businesses do everything they can to protect one of the world’s most valuable assets: data,” said Raj Samani, Chief Scientist and Fellow at McAfee. “The good news is that businesses are finding that stricter data protection regulations benefit both consumers and their bottom line. However, many have short-term barriers to overcome to become compliant, for example, to reduce the time it takes to report a breach.”

Some key findings from the report include the following:

· Seventy-four percent of respondents believe organisations that properly apply data protection laws will attract new customers.

· Just over half (51%) of all respondents say their organisation is being held back from technology investment because of external data protection regulations.

· Eighty-three percent of organizations take public sentiment towards data privacy into account when making data residency decisions.

· Organisations take 11 days on average to report a breach.

· Eight in 10 respondents organisations are planning, at least in part, to leverage their cloud service provider to help achieve data protection compliance.

· Forty-seven percent of organisations know where their data is stored at all times. The majority are unsure, at least some of the time.

· While the majority of respondents (54%)  believe their organisation has a “complete understanding” of the data protection regulations that apply to them, just 2% of senior decision-makers know all the clauses of regulations that apply to their organisations. 

· Only a minority claim complete understanding of regulations in Singapore (34%) and Japan (13%).

· Asked “How comfortable is your organization with adhering to the following data protection regulations?,” 42% said they were “extremely comfortable” with the Australia Privacy Act, while 20% said the same for Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). Ten percent said theywere extremely comfortable with Japan's Act of the Protection of Personal Information (APPI).

 
Interested?

Read the McAfee Do you know where your data is? Beyond GDPR: Data residency insights from around the world report

*McAfee commissioned independent technology market research specialist Vanson Bourne to undertake the research upon which this report is based. The findings are based on the responses from 800 senior business decision-makers from across eight countries at companies ranging in size from 500 employees to more than 5,000 across a range of industry sectors, including financial services, private healthcare and the public sector. The survey targeted respondents with a range of business functions, from IT professionals to client services, HR, and engineering. Countries represented by respondents include Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, the UK and the US.