As global tensions continue to escalate, the Internet may find itself used as a weapon, something we are already starting to see happen, by nations attempting to exert their influence and enforce greater internal control over digital commerce and communication. Nations must recognize the threat of escalation beyond the point of no return and take steps to ensure that the interconnectivity of the open Internet remains intact long-term. This will prevent a “cyber dark age” in which governments implement national Internet protocols and stop the free flow of data across borders.
The rise of high-profile data breaches and the implementation of data privacy laws have raised awareness that businesses and institutions rely on consumer information. While there is no single, comprehensive U.S. federal data privacy law, there are enough industry-specific compliance regulations in force in addition to HIPAA, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and a growing number of state privacy laws, that every organization needs to step up and recognize how subject rights requests fit into its data protection and cybersecurity policies.
As companies think about how to navigate this new landscape of privacy laws and cybersecurity threats, here are a few major trends and predictions to consider:
Today’s customers rarely bat an eye when they receive a security alert from a company with which they do business. That’s because large tech companies have baked identity confirmation and notifications of suspicious activities into their everyday user experiences.
With the world transitioning to ecommerce, your online store is vital for ensuring your products are moving and sales are coming in. While you “can’t sell what you don’t have” in the retail world, you certainly can’t sell without a working online store in the ecommerce arena. Take the steps needed to ensure that all the goodwill and progress you made strengthening your online presence in 2020 is not wiped out in the coming year.
After a successful launch earlier this year, Carnegie Mellon researchers introduced the latest version of the IoT Privacy Assistant, an app and digital infrastructure that enables users to discover IoT devices nearby, learn about the data they collect and any controls they might possibly give, such as opting in or out of their data collection and use practices.
Business and security leaders are allowing massive Insider Risk problems to fester in the aftermath of the significant shift to remote work in the past year according to Code42's newest Data Exposure Report on Insider Risk, conducted by Ponemon. During that same time, three-quarters (76%) of IT security leaders said that their organizations have experienced one or more data breaches involving the loss of sensitive files and 59% said insider threat will increase in the next two years primarily due to users having access to files they shouldn’t, employees’ preference to work the way they want regardless of security protocols and the continuation of remote work.
Ransomware penetrates an organization’s IT infrastructure through phishing emails or endpoint vulnerabilities and then encrypts files, holding data hostage until a fee is paid to decrypt them. The FBI has deemed ransomware the fastest growing malware threat, causing significant revenue loss, business downtime and reputational damage. It’s critical organizations protect their data by following the best practices.
In the wake of Schrems II, the EDPB’s much-anticipated recommendations provide extensive guidance on supplementary measures parties can use to legally transfer data out of the EEA in the absence of an adequacy decision.
In a flurry of activity last week, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Commission made major announcements affecting cross-border data transfers out of the EEA. First, the EDPB announced the adoption of draft recommendations on measures that supplement cross-border data transfer tools as well as recommendations on the European Essential Guarantees for surveillance measures. The below post will examine the EDPB’s draft recommendations on supplementary measures. The draft new standard contractual clauses will be discussed in a separate post.