"European Businesses Admit Major Privacy Skills Gap"

According to new research by ISACA, some 94% of European organizations are struggling to find skilled practitioners to take up crucial privacy-related roles.  The researchers polled 375 privacy professionals across the region in Q4 2022 as part of a wider global study called "Privacy in Practice." The researchers found that although European businesses recognize the importance of privacy, with 87% offering awareness training to employees, most also admit to having skills gaps.  Over half (59%) of technical privacy teams in Europe are understaffed.  The researchers claimed that addressing the problem is tricky, with a fifth of respondents saying it takes over six months to fill such roles and twice that number (41%) complaining of insufficient privacy budgets.  The researchers noted that this could be having a serious impact on those same organizations.  Half (49%) of respondents cited poor training as a major privacy failure, two-fifths (38%) pointed to data breaches, and a similar number (39%) to not practicing privacy by design, a key part of the GDPR.  The researchers warned that despite the obvious financial and reputational impact of a serious breach, only 38% of business leaders are confident in their organization's ability to protect sensitive data.  The researchers stated that the new research highlights businesses need to consider changing their training programs and adopt privacy by design to limit the number of privacy breaches, build digital trust, and set the company up for long-term success.

Infosecurity reports: "European Businesses Admit Major Privacy Skills Gap"