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Contributed by Renee Bradshaw, Manager of Solutions Strategy at Micro Focus

A Single Data Privacy Standard Will Emerge to Secure the Global Market

Discussion and debate about international privacy related standards has been around since the 1940's, when the recognition of privacy as a basic right was ratified by the United Nations (U.N.) Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Since then, nations seeking to protect the personal information of their citizens have created a multitude of unique data privacy requirements.  But with this rapid growth of individual national policies and standards comes great complexity, which threatens their ability to participate in a global economy.

At the macro-level, multinational corporations struggle to do business cross borders due to confusing governmental regulations or distrust about how their citizens' personal information will be protected once it leaves the home country. At the operational level, security and compliance teams must understand the requirements they should comply with and how to best ensure this compliance while still keeping the business running efficiently and securely in every corner of the world. Without a clear directive on the best privacy standards to ensure a secure and efficient digital market, highly regionalized privacy and data security mandates will continue to grow, inequitably, and often in direct conflict with each other.  This will only serve to increase the attack surface for cyber criminals who are experienced at carefully researching IT infrastructures, searching for points of vulnerability to exploit.

The solution is the creation of a single data privacy standard to secure the global digital market. In 2016, nations must commit to a common goal of protecting the private information and data of the world's citizens, and then enforcing that standard with the rule of law in each nation. By using an enforceable global standard, rather than bilateral or multilateral agreements based on reciprocity and accountability, nations can overcome the distrust of governmental activities and motives most recently created by Snowden and the NSA.  They can focus on creating a universally accepted international privacy standard comprised of the most effective data security and privacy requirements from around the world, and make it applicable to both the private and public sectors.

A universal data privacy standard will allow nations to strike a balance between privacy, free expression, and public safety while allowing corporations to complete globally.  Additionally, it will decrease the complexity experienced by security and compliance teams that must comply with the myriad of requirements and policies every country enforces.

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About the Author

Renee Bradshaw, Manager of Solutions Strategy at NetIQ, the security portfolio of Micro Focus