Around 1995, the internet user base was growing faster, and technology progressed, creating data privacy and security concerns across the globe.
The European Union (EU) recognized this need and established the European Data Protection Directive in 1995. This law allows each participating country to customize and control its privacy policies.
However, this created difficulties for businesses that wanted to expand to different countries and regions. With each one having a different privacy requirement than the other, keeping up with all of them was a huge challenge.
GDPR was introduced to eliminate this challenge, enabling businesses to refer to a single privacy guideline for all EU members.
So, if your business operates in the EU region and processes its residents’s personal data, GDPR is applicable to you no matter where you operate from. Non-compliance with GDPR can cost organizations huge fines - 4% of global revenue or €20 million (the higher one’s applicable), let alone security risks and business reputation.
Therefore, it’s important to have sufficient security and privacy measures in place and comply with GDPR regulations to protect your business and customer data, deter cyberattacks, and stay safe.