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TMA Tech Summit Hits High Note Charting Path to Harden Central Stations

Jeff Freeman, vice president, worldwide systems engineering, for Cloud data management  firm Rubrik, detailed how a software-defined platform can unify backup, instant recovery, replication, search analytics, among other feature sets. On the topic of compliance, Freeman forewarned attendees to pay close attention to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a fast approaching regulation in the European Union — aspects of which can also affect U.S.-based companies.

When it takes affect May 25, GDPR will be the primary law regulating how companies protect EU citizens’ personal data. In a nutshell, the regulation authorizes baseline standards for businesses that handle EU citizens’ data with the intent to safeguard the processing and movement of personal data.

Don’t be mistaken. North American organizations can also be held accountable and subject to heavy fines in the event of a security breach if they do business in some fashion in Europe. That could entail a Europe-based office, an online presence, end customers, employees, among other factors.

He explained:

“Do you know where your data is? That is the question [European companies] are all dealing with today. They are multi-Cloud already. I recently dealt with a major bank and they are literally spending $50 million dollars to try and assess now where their data is across multiple platforms in preparation for GDPR. This is a real issue that could actually affect all of us in this room. As you use the Cloud it’s not as simple as creating these different linkages. It’s about understanding and controlling it at the same time.”

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