GridPocket with the EU’s DEFeND project to enable true data privacy for energy consumers
GDPR and the DEFeND approach
Effective since May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides a strict legal framework to protect the European Union’s citizens regarding personal data-related content. Primarily concerned by those regulations, companies from all sectors (and especially IT) need to understand the GDPR rules and apply them. This may be a difficult task, especially for SMEs, given the complexity of the legal text and the consequent efforts required.
Started in 2018, the DEFeND project is a H2020 European funded project that aims to make it easier for small and large companies to follow the GDPR. The project’s goal was to create a platform providing guidelines and support in order to be GDPR compliant. The strength of the DEFeND platform is that it covers absolutely all GDPR facets such as: third-party management, data breach management, data anonymization tools, management of data processing, etc.
By using the Defend platform, a company can check that all the GDPR conditions are respected for the different sets of data it processes. In case some steps towards GDPR compliancy must be conducted, the platform will help the company by defining the different tasks to follow.
The role of GridPocket in validating the DEFeND platform
To work on this ambitious project, several European companies were selected to test and validate the capabilities of the platform. Among them, GridPocket, provider of data management solution for energy utilities, was able to test the platform for several months and confirm its critical usefulness for SMEs that need to comply with the GDPR. Energy utilities and service providers recently witnessed rising concerns about privacy and security in their sector as large amounts of data are being collected through smart meters or IoT sensors.
In response to the accelerating digitalization of their sector and the growing amount of data collected, the integration of the Defend platform in GridPocket products is a strong consolidation of the high level of privacy and security of this company. As stated by GridPocket’s CEO, Filip Gluszak:
“Such a tool is essential for energy companies who want to correctly apply and monitor their compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation. It enables an important gain of OPEX and time while ensuring comprehensive respect of data privacy for all energy customers.”
GridPocket provides advanced privacy management tools as part of its energy data management solutions to energy utilities worldwide.
If you would like to know more about the project or our expertise, please feel free to contact us and schedule a meeting.
