Browsing by Author "Auvo, Markus"

As everyday life becomes digital, more and more daily things are done online. In particular, the increased use of mobile devices has accelerated this development. People are increasingly leaving information online about themselves that can be used to identify a person. On 25 May 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, the GDPR, was repealed in the European Union, repealing the previous European Union Data Protection Directive. The GDPR sets out how personal information should be stored and who can process it. The thesis examined how the introduction of GDPR has affected the customer data storage solutions and IT processes of Finnish SMEs during 2018-2020. The companies were examined in three phases: before, during and after the introduction of the GDPR. The study looked at the number of data breaches in the EU and the penalties imposed for them, and compared the situation in Finland. In addition, Finnish SMEs were interviewed for the dissertation. The interview was conducted as a questionnaire interview with 15 companies. The thesis found that Finland did not stand out in any way among other EU countries in GDPR violations. The answers received as a result of the survey revealed that there has been a clear variation in the interpretation of the content of the GDPR in Finland, which has affected the measures taken by companies. Based on the survey, the measures have also been influenced by the organization and organizational culture. However, the reliability of the results is affected by the small sample size.