It’s Data Privacy Day or, if you are part of the EU, Data Protection Day.
Data privacy and data protection have been top of mind for information security professionals for a number of years now. While the United States is paying greater attention to privacy legislation (California and several other states have various bills in process), the European Union has led the conversation with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enacted in May 2018.Last week, the EU (specifically France) issued the first fines associated with a GDPR violation. While the tech company is going to appeal the finding, it is only the start of what will be many fines from EU nations in 2019 for GDPR infractions. Technology professionals will be watching the news to understand how these findings affect their enterprises, and possible steps that they will need to take to remediate violations proactively.
This might go without saying, but it is vitally important — personally and professionally — to make every effort to follow data protection best practices. Still, today is as good a day as any to remember that there are numerous tools and solutions available to help you do so.
That’s certainly true in the cloud. Never in the history of technology have companies paid more attention and spent more on resources to protect data.
The biggest companies in the public cloud space spend BILLIONS of dollars per year improving security controls and compliance standards. The environments that they provide serve as some of the most scrutinized and protected environments ever to exist — far more than the average company can possibly hope to achieve on its own. Companies moving to these sorts of environment not only stand to gain massive savings in costs and resources, but they also end up with an environment that is better, more secure, and easier to manage.
So, to observe the day, take a moment and try to understand what data you have available in digital form. Then, try to determine how that data is protected. You might be shocked at what you find.
