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For companies, violations of the General Data Protection Regulation get expensive. Fines of up to 20 million euros or four percent of the worldwide turnover of the previous year are planned here. In the third quarter of the current year, the European Union imposed fines of almost one billion euros, according to Finbold’s financial analysts. However, the record is due to a recently pronounced high fine against the online retailer Amazon. There is no survey of how often companies were prosecuted for unlawful messenger use. However, experts point out that the data protection authorities in Germany are severely understaffed and that this is the only reason why they are currently unable to investigate many violations.
The study also indicates a new legal situation. Accordingly, trade secrets only enjoy legal protection if the information is protected with appropriate measures. Those who do not adhere to them can have difficulties asserting their claims. “That can reduce the company’s value and, in the worst case, even threaten the very existence of a company,” said study director Wagner. The experts advise caution, especially when using services that are operated outside of Europe.
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Not only is the forwarding of data to the USA problematic, but also the storage of data from US providers on servers in Europe. “With the Cloud Act, this even applies to data stored by US companies within the EU, because data stored outside the USA must also be released upon request by US authorities,” the study says. The use of services from third countries is not prohibited, but high protection requirements have to be applied, including additional encryption and the anonymization and pseudonymization of data.
Users would also have to be trained. Even simple measures are possible, including an assessment of whether the data protection declaration of the services is simple and transparent or the source code of the software has been published so that experts can understand the level of data protection. You should be particularly careful when using free services, because here users often pay with their data.