Tuesday January 28th marked Data Privacy Day, the annual international day aimed at raising awareness of privacy and data protection issues and promoting best practices.

Here we’ve gathered up the thoughts of some leading figures from across the sector, covering everything from GDPR to biometrics and compliance, and what 2020’s priorities need to be…

Chase Buckle, Trends Manager, GlobalWebIndex

“In today’s post-Cambridge Analytica world, we’re witnessing a ground-breaking shift in consumer attitudes towards data, privacy and brand trust.

While GDPR has certainly shifted the balance of power, leading to new perspectives on consumers’ rights to share or withhold data online, 58% of UK consumers are still concerned about the internet eroding their personal data.

The increased awareness of how companies collect and use data online, also brought by events such as Data Privacy Day, has done little to alleviate concerns over online privacy more generally –  61% of UK consumers worry about how their personal data is being used by companies and 55% now prefer to be anonymous when browsing online.

This anxiety around online privacy and technology is most prevalent among younger age groups. These so-called digital natives are more conscious of the complexity of data security and technology, and are more aware of just how much they might not know around the issue. In fact, the younger the consumer, the more likely they are to say that they don’t feel in control of their personal data online, and that they just don’t understand new technology. 

Within this new digital landscape, company reputations hinge on their trust and transparency credentials over personal data. To build consumer relationships, trust has to become one of the core elements of any brand proposition.”

Nigel Hawthorn, data privacy expert, McAfee

“Over a year after the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, the regulatory bodies are changing their focus from guidance to full enforcement. The GDPR framework serves as a driver for organisations to revisit their current processes and take full responsibility for how they process and store personal data. As the UK leaves the EU, this legal responsibility doesn’t go away. The UK government passed the Data Protection Act 2018 to provide an equivalent law to GDPR. As we’re stepping into a new decade, we are seeing the rise of more regulations which put internet users first and a rise in the data stored in the cloud.”

“With the increasing reliance on the cloud, businesses need to be rest assured that they have complete visibility and control over data regardless of where it is. According to our latest research, 40% of large UK businesses expect to be cloud-only by 2021. What we’re going to see in 2020 is even more data and applications shifting to the cloud – and where they migrate, cybercriminals will follow.

Today, we should recognise that the age of the cloud is here. Whether businesses are cloud-only or shifting towards a cloud-first approach, the key is to make sure it isn’t an easy target for cybercriminals.”

Zachary Jarvinen, Head of Product Marketing, AI and Analytics, OpenText – “As we welcome in another Data Privacy Day, this date – and what it represents – has never been more relevant or more important.

“It’s clear that 2020 will be the year that the rest of the data privacy iceberg begins to emerge. While regulations like Europe’s GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have already been established, new regulatory developments surrounding data privacy are continually coming to light.

“Although these regulations have their inherent differences, the general scope of data privacy laws is to give consumers the right to know how and what type of personally identifiable information (PII) is collected, and the option to take legal action in the event that they should incur damages from bias or data security breaches. In 2019, 53% of consumers stated that they would cancel a transaction if they didn’t like something in the privacy policy – more must be done this year to make sure data privacy and protection is a top priority for companies.

“Until now, most organisations have focused their efforts on structured information, but they must also be able to understand what PII is located in textual documents. Archived data, in particular, is an especially pressing concern for most enterprises. AI-powered solutions will be instrumental in locating sensitive data and managing it through automated workflows. Today, organisations will also need to establish internal data governance practices to determine who is accountable for data security and enterprise-wide policy, which may include creating teams that blend technical and regulatory expertise.

“It’s also a great time to get started with a career in the industry. Over the past four years there has been a 75% increase in jobs with “privacy” in the title. Privacy is hot. And, finally data protection is at the table for new initiatives and technology decisions.”

Simon Wood, CEO, Ubisecure – “The topic of data privacy could not be more relevant in the current cybersecurity landscape. Last year, for example, a number of headline-hitting data breaches were revealed to be a result of misplaced security design choices – demonstrating the damaging consequences of underestimating security requirements. 

“A large cause for concern here is when it comes to businesses building identity management functionality in-house. No matter how big the development team some companies may have, a lack of experience and resources in cybersecurity areas like identity management means that building such features internally comes with increased risk. Faced by tight deadlines and pressure to get applications to market as fast as possible, teams are challenged to build functionality that properly adheres to privacy by design and proven security methodology. Often, we see the impact of not doing so through the breaches that take advantage of weak authentication policies and a failure to keep data privacy central to the whole design process. 

“One way for tech leaders to solve this problem is to deploy Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) solutions – cloud based authentication and identity software or APIs already proven and in use in the market. Such solutions allow teams to integrate identity features into applications as securely and as seamlessly as possible, without reinventing the wheel each time. Ultimately, this on-demand expertise reduces the risk of data breaches caused by employee-led error and places data privacy at the forefront of the development process.“

Gijs Roeffen, Director IT & Security at EclecticIQ – “As data breaches continue to hit the headlines, businesses and consumers alike are becoming more and more aware of the need to protect their data. Here are a couple of simple tips to help keep your personal information secure: 

Swap PIN codes for biometrics

“When it comes to passwords and PIN codes, people are creatures of habit. People not only use the same password across multiple online accounts, they will also happily use the same PIN code for their debit card and their phone, or a generic PIN number. In fact, cybersecurity specialist Tarah Wheeler recently shared the most common PINs used by smartphone users to secure their devices, and shockingly, the most common PIN number was 1234. 

“Passcodes and PIN numbers can easily be captured from a glance over someone’s shoulder, or can be photographed or filmed from another mobile device. Biometrics, however, such as facial recognition or fingerprints, are unique to the user and can’t be obtained in either of these ways, making them a much safer option than passwords and PINs.

 Safeguard your SMS messages

“While it is possible to intercept SMS messages over the air, it requires multiple factors to be aligned to be successful. Attacks on SMS are often very targeted, since intercepting SMS codes requires specialist knowledge and hardware. 

“Using a two-factor authentication, however, is an effective means of defence against account takeover, so be sure to check your SMS is protected. Alternatively, look into using an encrypted messaging service. Encryption jumbles the content of a message into random data until it is received on the other end, so if a hacker intercepts the message, they won’t be able to view it in full. Apple’s iMessage service uses encryption, as does WhatsApp, which works across both Android and iPhone devices.”

Ashley Bill, enterprise data consultant, Micro Focus – “Fortunately, life after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has seen organisations begin to change how they think about data privacy. While avoiding regulatory fines and reputational damage is often top of mind, savvy business leaders may also see the business benefits that effective compliance can bring: the ability to generate high quality, streamlined data that can be monetised through applying predictive analytics.

“By investing in optimised data management driven by compliance, organisations can effectively increase the value of their data. It not only saves them pouring significant amounts of time into making sense of exploding datasets, but also creates an environment where teams can effectively deploy predictive analytics to make informed decisions. Using insights gleaned from quality data, companies can better predict the preferences and behaviour of their target audiences to inform and maximise the potential of marketing, advertising and product development. Ultimately, accurately predicting what customers want and remaining a step ahead of competitors is the ‘holy grail’ of business success.

“If predictive analytics is essential for boosting business outcomes, data privacy compliance is a fundamental component. And looking ahead, it will be a major driving force behind the development of modern, ethical, data-driven organisations.”

Chris Greenwood, Senior Director and General Manager UK&I at NetApp

“Data privacy has moved beyond protection and is now a question of trust. 

“We, as consumers, trust organisations to handle our data in a secure, standardised and accountable way. But with 60% of UK businesses planning to migrate apps and data to the cloud within the next year, the risks are high. Combine this with the rise of 5G, edge computing and AI bringing about entirely new and disruptive ways to use data, organisations must ensure suitable safeguards are in place, tested and updated as we begin to unravel these various possibilities.

“75% of IT leaders anticipate that security will have the largest impact on their data strategy over the next 12 months. In order for privacy to succeed, it is the duty of companies and organisations to not only understand how and why data is being used, but also have the capabilities to remedy any ethical concerns which may naturally arise as new lines are drawn on what ‘is’ versus what ‘was’ acceptable as technology becomes ever more powerful.

“This can only be achieved by being able to see, access and conscientiously use data from any and every environment whilst affording the end user the means to control how and what data is there in the first place. Only then can user privacy truly succeed.”

Malcolm Murphy, Systems Engineering Director, EMEA at Infoblox – “You hear a lot of people in the industry talking about Zero Trust. Whist it is certainly a core element of improving data protection standards, we need to be more realistic about its wide-scale implementation.

“Despite the hype, no one is actually doing ‘Zero Trust’ yet. Putting the infrastructure in place to enable organisations to verify anything and everything trying to connect to its systems before granting access is a really hard thing to do, as we can’t easily layer it onto existing technology at scale.

“As it stands, we’re nowhere near being able to implement the Zero Trust concept at a cost-effective level, and this is unlikely to change in 2020 – and our data privacy may suffer because of it.”

“This approach will remain difficult, expensive and inconvenient. I think it will take a catastrophic event or new regulation to make organisations invest in Zero Trust, it won’t happen on its own.”

Paul Farrington, EMEA CTO, Veracode: “Many businesses today are software-driven and they are conscious of the role software security plays in keeping data protected. There is a greater need to ensure security is a core part of the software development process going forward. As a new data-driven decade commences, businesses should empower developers by training them on best practices in secure coding and providing the tools to enable them to find and fix vulnerabilities in their software.

“We know that unresolved vulnerabilities that pile up over time, also known as security debt, can leave organisations exposed to data breaches. Hackers will continue to look for weak points at the application layer, which is still the predominant threat vector. By shifting security left, developers are able to fix vulnerabilities faster and more effectively, improving an organisation’s overall security and ultimately better protecting sensitive data. Across Europe, more businesses are learning that they are able to adopt application security without stifling innovation.”

Elodie Dowling, EMEA General Counsel, BMC Software

“With an increasing number of data protection laws around the world, data privacy remains a very pressing topic, and businesses such as cloud service providers continue to face an array of complex and logistical challenges to adhere to across their multi-cloud infrastructure, to ensure their customers’ data remains protected.

“Over the course of the last year, there have been a large volume of data breaches being reported. Data Privacy day comes as a very timely reminder for customers and their service providers to continue to work towards updating their existing privacy standards to a compliant level, while ensuring robust security is in place to protect customer data. Most recently, European regulators have imposed £97m in data breach fines, and businesses who operate within the cloud must remain vigilant to avoid similar penalties.

“It’s important once a business starts using a variety of cloud-based services and infrastructure to regularly carry out audits to ensure that systems and services being used remain compliant with data privacy laws. Under GDPR, personal data may not be stored longer than needed for the predefined purpose. Therefore, it’s important businesses implement retention periods, whilst having the ability to delete data effectively when retention periods have expired – both for data locally stored and in the cloud.

“Companies are able to achieve better data protection in today’s IT ecosystem through four critical measures.

1. Visibility – IT needs the tools to know where sensitive customer data resides, how it is being processed, and by whom.
2. DevOps – teams must be aligned to maintain security and compliance.
3. Integrity – IT must validate structured and unstructured data automatically, and ensure that stored data is intact.
4. Recovery – Organisations must ensure data is recoverable in a timely manner in the event of any physical or technical incidents.”