Cybersecurity Survey Reveals Significant GDPR Readiness Gap

Despite progress, 60% of EU and 50% of U.S. cybersecurity professionals worry about compliance by the May deadline


NEW YORK, Dec. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Varonis Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNS), a leading provider of software solutions that protect data from insider threats and cyberattacks, released findings from an independent survey exploring readiness and attitudes toward the upcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implementation deadline. The survey, which polled 500 cybersecurity professionals in the UK, Germany, France and U.S., highlights GDPR readiness shortcomings, with more than half (57%) of professionals concerned about compliance with the standard.

An infographic accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b263b58b-2dbe-4c96-970a-e280ea7e7fce

With just a few months before the May 25, 2018 deadline, 60% of respondents in the EU and 50% of respondents in the U.S. say they face some serious challenges in being GDPR compliant. Among other notable findings:

  • 56% think the right to erasure/“to be forgotten” poses the greatest challenge in meeting the GDPR, followed by implementing data protection by design.
  • 38% of respondents report that their organizations do not view compliance with GDPR by the deadline as a priority.
  • 74% believe that adhering to the GDPR will give them a competitive advantage over other organizations in their sector.

“It’s encouraging to see progress made surrounding the GDPR, and yet it’s deeply concerning that more than half of the organizations surveyed continue to face compliance challenges,” said Varonis CMO David Gibson. “The GDPR represents a significant change in the way data must be handled. It’s alarming that so many respondents simply aren’t worried, especially given that many organizations are not tackling the biggest problems and best practices around data collection, management and protection. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the GDPR, and organizations that have fallen behind in their preparations must ramp up their compliance activities or they could take a serious financial hit once the regulations take effect.”

Other interesting findings include:

  • One in four U.S. respondents believe their firms need not comply with GDPR.
  • 35% of respondents in Germany, 42% in France and 36% in the UK report being in compliance.
  • In the EU, almost half of respondents say their organization is more than 50% complete in their compliance process.

The independent survey on top concerns, approaches and experiences of cybersecurity professionals regarding the GDPR was commissioned by Varonis and carried out by Survey Sampling International. Respondents were 500 cybersecurity professionals from organizations with 1,000+ employees from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States. The survey was conducted by SSI from September 28 – October 6, 2017.

Additional Resources

About Varonis
Varonis is a leading provider of software solutions that protect data from insider threats and cyberattacks. Through an innovative software platform, Varonis allows organizations to analyze, secure, manage, and migrate their volumes of unstructured data. Varonis specializes in file and email systems that store valuable spreadsheets, word processing documents, presentations, audio and video files, emails, and text. This rapidly growing data often contains an enterprise's financial information, product plans, strategic initiatives, intellectual property, and confidential employee, customer or patient records. IT and business personnel deploy Varonis software for a variety of use cases, including data security, governance and compliance, user behavior analytics, archiving, search, and file synchronization and sharing. With offices and partners worldwide, Varonis had approximately 5,950 customers as of September 30, 2017, spanning leading firms in financial services, healthcare, public, industrial, insurance, energy and utilities, media and entertainment, consumer and retail, technology and education sectors.

News Media Contacts:
Rachel Hunt
Varonis Systems, Inc.
877-292-8767 (ext. 4247)
Email: rhunt@varonis.com

Mia Damiano
Merritt Group
703-390-1502
Email: damiano@merrittgrp.com

Investor Relations Contact:
Yun Kim
Varonis Systems, Inc.
646-640-2149
Email: kimy@varonis.com 

Infographic: The Cybersecurity Readiness Gap