Europe's looming data protection rules look swell – for IT security peddlers. Ker-ching!

The rush to comply with Europe's upcoming General Data Protection Regulation will balloon the continent's IT security budgets to $11.5bn in 2018, analyst group Canalys reckons. That's a 16 per cent year on year increase, apparently. For what it's worth, IDC thinks Europe will spend $19bn on IT security this year, and more next …

[Anonymous Coward]

Touching optimism

s SMBs realise they have little time left to implement changes if they are to meet the deadline, many will turn to their channel partners for help and support,

I'd guess that most SMBs will continue doing what they've always done, and that's concentrating on commercial survival, whilst approaching all forms of regulation and compliance with a strategy that could be summarised as "seat of the pants"

[Anonymous Coward]

Luckily we're leaving, eh readers?

[Anonymous Coward]

Leaving or not it'll be in force way before we actually do the deed and are no longer members of the EU so it will need to be implemented as a matter of law from May next year.

Oh that and the fact there will be bugger all chance of doing business in Europe post brexit without full GDPR implementation or at the very least a UK law that is equivalent.

[Mike 137]

"businesses that handle personal data in the EU"

It's wider than that - it's businesses that process the personal data of EU citizens (anywhere).

[Doctor Syntax]

Apart from fixing all those SQL injection flaws a good deal of this is going to hinge on a business's attitude to how it manages personal data. I can't see that as a thing that can be bought in. Except, of course, for buying in the services of those specialists in being kind to those laid off; those will be needed for the muppets from marketing who'll happily spaff all the customer data to digital marketing consultants spammers.