A quarter of UK businesses are moving their data out of the States following the NSA and Prism scandal.

The research also stated that 96% of UK businesses consider security a top priority, while 82% consider data privacy as a big concern.

The fears around privacy and data security have come about after revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed details about the secret surveillance programme called Prism in June.

The research conducted by hosting company Peer 1 claims 25% of the 300 UK businesses surveyed are saying they will move their data out of the US.

An EU enquiry into mass surveillance has now said the activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA) as well as the UK’s GCHQ appear to be illegal.

The European parliament’s civil liberties committee has called for an end to the “vast, systematic and indiscriminate” collection of personal data by UK and US intelligence agencies.

“With data privacy and security concerns top of mind after NSA, PRISM and other revelations around the world, businesses in the UK are taking real action,” said Robert Miggins, SVP business development, PEER 1 Hosting. “Many are moving data outside of the US, and even more are making security and privacy their top concerns when choosing where to host their company data.”

Peer 1 which is based in Vancouver with its European operations headquartered in Southampton, has 16 datacentres across North America and Europe.  Its research stated that almost 70% of UK businesses would sacrifice performance to ensure data sovereignty.

Additionally the top three concerns for UK businesses when choosing where to store company data are security (96%), performance (94%) and reputation (87%).

But organizations are struggling to understand laws surrounding data and data security. 60% admit to not knowing as much as they should and 44% feel that privacy and security laws confuse them.

Via: computerweekly