LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE 360 – PRIVACY & SECURITY, THE HAGUE: Wilbert Tomesen, vice chairman of the Dutch Data Protection Authority, said the watchdog has to “regularly rap the knuckles” of organisations that take insufficient care of user data.

New legislation in the Netherlands has seen 1,500 breaches in just 130 days, Tomesen said. “What does that tell us? The idea at the moment appears to be that security of personal data is the last item on the agenda. It’s not the last but not far off it at the moment,” the privacy chief confided.

The statistic “sounds a lot but is not so much when you think about how many organisations there are in the Netherlands. It looks as if everyone is not reporting,” Tomesen concluded.

Looking at reports, there are several recurring factors,  including lost or stolen laptops and phones. He gave the example of the medical examiner whose computer was stolen from his car. Better protection of medical data is a key driver for the privacy watchdog.

He also cited some other examples of sloppy care for crucial user data. “The illustration is that security is probably not still top of mind. Data is the new money, new gold. We keep gold in strong rooms so why not protect personal data just as strongly?” he concluded.