In August 2018, BDO USA conducted a survey as part of the BDO 2018 Cyber Governance Survey. It was participated by 145 U.S. company board directors of public companies. The survey results indicate that 80 percent of companies had undertaken steps to comply with current data protection laws.
Companies implemented measures such as doing a gap analysis and updating the privacy policy of the company. 33% of the companies represented increased its budget for data privacy protection and assigned a data protection officer. These steps are the minimum requirements for U.S. firms doing business in the European Union to make certain that they adhere to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in force beginning May 25, 2018.
Under the GDPR, organizations may be penalized up to €20m or 4% of the companies annual global revenue, in the event they are confirmed to have broken the law. Considering this, it is very important that American organizations cope with their GDPR shortcomings expediently.
As stated by BDO USA’s National Assurance Partner for Communications and Governance, Amy Rojik, Amy Rojik, the BDO’s 2018 Cyber Governance Survey obviously indicates that public company board directors acknowledge even more how valuable it is to have a digital improvement approach and decrease vulnerabilities linked to cyber risk. Developing a strategic way to change a company’s digital resources and supervise cybersecurity and data privacy are now requirements for businesses to succeed and survive in this time of serious transformation.
BDO USA’s Third-Party Attestation National Managing Partner, Jeff Ward, explained that companies must get ready for the trend that is rising. They need to be all set to be closely watched by data protection bodies. He said that a lot of public company customers anticipate more regulatory activity on their cyber risk and data breach disclosures, and use the SOC reporting framework for risks as a standard.
Every year, the BDO Center for Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting conducts a BDO Cyber Governance Survey. It seeks to measure the viewpoint of public organization directors on the issues faced by the healthcare industry, and other key governance concerns.