There are four letters making waves across the pond and causing a ripple effect in the United States. Those letters are “GDPR,” and businesses are being forced to take note of these new regulations in the European Union and as they relate to companies and privacy measures in America. GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, addresses the export of personal data outside the EU and European Economic Areas (EEA). The primary aim is to provide greater control to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify privacy regulations for international businesses. Basically, a complete overhaul of how businesses process and handle data.

On Christmas Eve, while most of us were immersed in the holiday spirit, others were immersed in the sensitive information of Stratfor Global Intelligence Service’s client list.

A group of hackers, associated with the collective known as Anonymous, breached Stratfor’s systems, obtaining the credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses of the company’s customers. The group has already used this stolen information to make donations to charities, such as the American Red Cross.