59,000 Personal Data Breaches Experienced Since GDPR Took Effect: Report

Authorities in the European Union have logged more than 59,000 reports of personal data breaches since the General Data Protection Regulation took effect about eight months ago, according to a DLA Piper survey.

Sixty-five per cent of the breach notifications made between May 25, 2018 and Jan. 28 originated from the Netherlands, Germany and the U.K.—the three countries that had the highest number of reported breaches with 15,400, 12,600 and 10,600, respectively, according to the report.

Patrick Van Eecke, a DLA Piper partner in Brussels, said Monday in a phone interview, “One of the reasons, we think, is that because of the GDPR legal system ... you typically notify in the country where you’ve got your European HQ.”

Patrick Van Eecke, DLA Piper partner, said that the Netherlands was a popular headquarters location for data-focused companies, which could further explain why the country had so many breach reports. Also, the Netherlands was the only country in the EU that had a pre-GDPR data breach notification requirement, he said.

Jim Halpert, DLA Piper partner, said,

“It’s ended up being way more than the authorities can manage.

The main takeaway is that this is still early days, but there’s a real obligation in Europe to comply with the GDPR and it’s going to be important to review and upgrade your security programs in Europe for personal data.”