Google - January 2019
In January 2019, French data protection watchdog, CNIL fined Google the largest GDPR fine to date -
£44 million. This was because Google were found to violate GDPR in two ways. Their data processing
practices were found to be “massive and intrusive”, and it was also found that their data processing wasn’t
transparent enough when it comes to creating a Google account through an Android device. CNIL had
found that when consumers submit a SARs request from Google, information gets “spread across
multiple pages”, making it “not easily accessible for users”.
According to CNIL, when it comes to Google processing data, the purposes of the processing were too
vague and generic, meaning users weren’t able to fully understand them. Alongside this, it was found
that the consent obtained for ad personalisation was not valid.
The Operational Impact of GDPR
It’s expected that “Copycat legislation” will come into force in the next few years in terms of GDPR
regulations - Canada, Singapore, the US, Australia and Brazil are, for example, introducing similar
legislation.
In 2017, cyber attacks on organisations cost the UK economy £10 billion, with seven out of ten companies
falling victim to a cyber-attack or breach. According to the Data Security Confidence Index, 58% of
organisations collect sensitive data via email. Should the sensitive information sent via an unencrypted
email from your business be infiltrated, your business will be found to be in breach of GDPR. With spam
attacks, email spoofing and phishing being prominent forms of cyber crime, it’s never been more
important for you to use email software that’s secure and will protect your business. After all, at every
single part of its journey, an insecure email is at risk
CEOs, managers and business directors need to educate themselves and their employees about the
importance of cyber security, and start putting extra precautions in place, so that they can create a more
GDPR compliant future.
About the Author
Robin Bingeman is the Managing Director and one of the original
development team who brought Cryoserver to the market as the expertly
simple email archiving solution to solve issues which law firms, forensic
teams, data protection officers and government agencies were
experiencing on a daily basis. Under his steady leadership, Robin has
boosted the development of Cryoserver into a technology used by all
types of businesses spanning across 25+ countries. With over 18 years
in the email industry, Robin is a thought leader on email management,
compliance and privacy laws such as GDPR. Robin can be reached
online at our company website, https://www.cryoserver.com/.