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With just a month to go until GDPR comes into force, it will hardly come as a surprise that this was one of the hottest topics at IT Nation Europe when it came to London this month (April).

With around 400 managed service providers and IT vendors from across the globe gathering in the capital, it’s the largest conference for companies that sell, service and support technology in Europe.

GDPR has implications for all businesses, but of course is particularly relevant for our own sector.

Austen Clark, managing director of Scottish IT specialists Clark Integrated Technologies says that ransomware demand can be commercial suicide for a business, as it has the potential to ruin its reputation, send share prices plummeting and it may struggle to recover from the damage done.

Austen’s advice is simple - prevention is better than cure.

Despite fears that GDPR is rules-heavy and compliance costs could push up the cost of doing business, particularly for smaller firms, it’s right to ensure that consumers should be put in charge of their personal data.

The apparent free-for-all with personal data simply couldn’t go on.

A major UK business survey revealing that a fifth of British businesses have been hacked by cyber criminals hammers home the need for all firms to ramp up their defences against cybercrime.

With only a quarter of firms surveyed by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) saying their business has security measures in place to guard against hacking, Austen Clark of Clark Integrated Technologies warns that too many firms could be exposing themselves to the very real danger of being hit by cybercrime.