It has been nearly a year since the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) were introduced, and since then it has had a big impact on improving cyber security for businesses and charities across the UK. According to the government’s 2019 Cyber Security Breaches Survey, 30 per cent of businesses and 36 per cent of charities claim they have changed their online policies to tighten their security following the new data laws. GDPR changed the process for many companies, with many focusing on protecting their bank accounts, private information or client details, while others turned their attention to supplier risks, and some wanted to ensure their cyber security was as strong as possible.A high-income charity told the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: “There has been a change in mindset. Whereas information security was something that sat in a little team and they used to come along at the end of a project and say ‘no, no, no’, now it’s fundamental to the start of any design decisions that we make.” According to the report, more organisations have improved their security practices since the introduction of GDPR. It found 15 per cent of those businesses that have made changes and 17 per cent of charities now have extra staff training or communications; 11 per cent and four per cent respectively have changed their firewall or system configurations; and six per cent and ten per cent have created new contingency plans.  They are also more aware of monitoring their security settings, with 31 per cent of businesses and 32 per cent of charities having undertaken a cyber risk assessment in the last 12 months, compared with 24 per cent and 20 per cent respectively that did so in 2018. While GDPR had a big impact on organisations, particularly in terms of marketing, Retail Times recently reported that 56 per cent of marketers are positive about data legislation changes, and return-on-investment for email marketing has even increased since its introduction. For confidential data destruction to ensure your business complies with GDPR, get in touch with us today.