With the one year anniversary of GDPR on the horizon, a new pair of studies have found that the strict protection policies administered by the regulation have done little to improve the way companies handle user data.

Silicon Angle– a site dedicated to covering emerging technical practices- did a deep dive into the studies and what it means for GDPR.

Varonis Systems Inc Study

The data protection vendor Varonis Systems Inc completed their study in the form of an annual audit. The audit found that on average, “large” companies leave a staggering 17% of their sensitive files open for all employees to access.

“More than half of the companies that were audited had more than 1,000 sensitive files in the open and about the same percentage left more than 100,000 folders with effectively no access controls.”

Varonis Systems performed the analysis on a grand total of 54 billion files. Their research also found that 40% of companies contain more than 1,000 active accounts for employees who no longer work at the company. Over 50% of the average company’s data is “stale” i.e., the data should no longer be kept. In terms of data security, these “ghost” accounts present a very real threat.

Splunk Inc Survey

Splunk Inc is a tech company that analyzes machine data. Their study’s goal was to find the disparity between companies data-driven goals and how they handle said data.

“The study found that 56% of respondents say “data-driven” is merely a slogan at their organizations while 44% give their companies mediocre scores on their ability to use data.”

While this news may be disconcerting, it is hardly shocking. In contrast, the percentage of business professionals who consider data management to be crucial in their fields is significantly higher.

A nearly unanimous 98% said they believe data skills will be important to the jobs of tomorrow and 84% think that being a decision-maker in their organization requires strong data skills.

What this means for the Digital You

Brian Vecci, the chief technology officer at Varonis, summarized one of the biggest issues with how companies handle data.

“The average company has hundreds of millions of files and folders but not the tools and people they need to get their hands around the data,”

Any time you place your information online you are placing it at risk. Even with measure’s such as GDPR in place, companies are still mismanaging data.

So what can you do outside of stopping your involvement with online services? For starters, make sure you are following our blog to stay current with all areas involving the Digital You.

Remember, that even when you take precautions, your information could still end up in marketplaces on the Dark Web.

With ScoresMatter, you can scan the Dark Web and see if criminals are trading or selling your personal details. You can also learn what you can do if we do find your information on the Dark Web.

Protect the digital you at ScoresMatter today.