ESET, the leading IT security vendor based in the European Union, has partnered with leading global analyst firm IDC to survey small and medium-sized businesses in selected countries about their approach to the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and endpoint security. The results show that European businesses are still unsure about the regulation – almost 78% of IT decision makers at more than 700 European companies either lacked understanding about the impact of the regulation on their organizations or were completely unaware of it. However, encryption, which is addressed by the GDPR, is desired by more than every third company in the survey. These and other findings of the IDC survey commissioned by ESET are being released during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Congress runs through March 2, 2017 and ESET experts will be highlighting the topic at the ESET booth, in Hall 5, booth B05.

“63% of confirmed data breaches are attributed to stolen or cracked passwords, indicating the critical need for an additional or alternative authentication factor… Anonymization of data is one option, encryption is another; both have pros and cons. Anonymization is good, but can be defeated by correlation from more sources. Encryption resolves that but – at least until recently – was seen as too complex and expensive for most small and medium-sized enterprises,” says IDC Research Manager Mark Child in the report. “Protecting customers and partners is of course paramount to the continued success and survival of any entity, however companies also increasingly recognize the business value of their data and are aware of the expanding legislative frameworks they must comply with and the penalties levied for failing to do so,” adds Child.

Still, the ground-breaking EU regulation is not completely understood by business. Of those that are aware of the GDPR, 20% say they are already compliant, 59% say they are working on it, and 21% say they are not prepared at all. IDC carried out its survey among IT professionals in more than 700 businesses in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom during Q4 of 2016.

Another interesting finding by IDC is the approach of European small and medium-sized enterprises towards encryption. “Many organizations recognize that their existing antimalware software is insufficient in the current threat environment, and half of respondents cited this as their top area to add to or upgrade,” says IDC’s Child. Encryption, which is mentioned in the GDPR regulation, is desired by 36% of the respondents.

“ESET is one of the companies to address encryption early on, with our DESlock encryption solution – ESET is providing safeguards for businesses to meet the EU’s requirements,“ says Pavol Balaj, Head of Business Development in EMEA at ESET, speaking at the Mobile World Congress.

For more on the GDPR, and how ESET is helping businesses get ready for the new regulation, read the whitepaper and visit our dedicated webpage. For more on the IDC survey findings, visit ESET’s special website and get your own copy of the full whitepaper.