Most businesses have yet to allocate a CCPA compliance budget

Only 15% of organizations report having a mature approach to data privacy, 59% have yet to allocate budget to CCPA compliance, and 58% are currently using or will look to implement machine learning-driven systems to improve manual processes for data security, Egress reveals.

Compliance and preparation

In succession to the EU’s landmark GDPR legislation, the CCPA is set to revolutionize data privacy and security within the United States, with major penalties and litigation slated for those unable to protect residences’ new privacy rights.

To gain better insight into the state of preparedness for compliance with CCPA, Osterman Research surveyed 149 security professionals about the state of organizational compliance, the successes and challenges associated with satisfying compliance, lessons learned from GDPR, and the level of buy-in security professionals believe they’ve received from the wider organization.

“CCPA is a monumental piece of legislation in the United States that will drive forward data protection for consumers not just in California, but more broadly as it inspires other states into similar action,” said Tony Pepper, CEO at Egress.

CCPA compliance budget

“The results from Osterman Research show clear gaps in compliance and preparation, including a robust email security strategy, efficient processes that can quickly respond to data subject access requests (DSARs), and measures to reduce the risk of email compromise or the accidental exposure of sensitive data,” continued Pepper.

“Our research found that most organizations just aren’t yet ready for compliance with the CCPA, despite the fact that we conducted the survey less than three months before it becomes enforced,” said Michael Osterman, Principal Analyst at Osterman Research.

“This is likely to present some serious consequences for non-compliant organizations given our view that the State of California will be reasonably aggressive in pursuing non-compliant organizations during 2020.”

Survey findings include:

• Data protection is still not prioritized today, with only 15% of organizations reporting a mature approach to data privacy
• More than half of organizations (58%) believe there is some overlap in compliance between GDPR and CCPA, but CCPA will require a fresh look at systems
• Consent is a critical element of GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulation compliance, yet only about 50% of organizations have reviewed how they obtain consent from external parties, leaving them open to non-compliance problems
• Most organizations are currently using technology to help with data classification, with 62% using rules-based systems for automatic classification
• Within two years, organizations predict that manual processes will move to more technology-based classifications. AI-driven systems will increase from 23% today to 58% in two years, and manual systems will drop from 55% to 36%
• Fewer than two-thirds (36%) of organizations have conducted an audit to determine where corporate data is located
• Only about two-thirds (69%) of organizations currently have a data breach notification procedure, despite the fact that data breach notification requirements have been established in most states for many years
• Confidence levels in the ability to comply with privacy regulations are low; only about one-third (35%) of organizations are confident they can delete all information on a data subject, which would leave them vulnerable to non-compliance

Holding off on actions

With findings also showing that many organizations are holding off on actions, improvements, or compliance until 2020 or later, and less than half (41%) have allocated budget for compliance, it’s more important than ever for organizations and security professionals to understand the risks and implications of non-compliance.

Email security, in particular, is a major component of data privacy that organizations need to consider when preparing for CCPA.