Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2020. Read them in this 12th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Peter Duthie, co-CEO of Ground Labs
The Year of Compliance and Data Discovery
As we enter a new decade, data is only going to continue to become more valuable for organizations globally. As a result, compliance regulations and security concerns will only become more pressing.
The value of data continues to grow – driving greater demand for privacy/security
“In today’s world, data is more valuable than gold and it’s more than just CEOs and CMOs who are realizing this; malicious cybercriminals are too. According to recent research, the first six months of 2019 saw more than 3,800 publicly-disclosed breaches exposing an incredible 4.1 billion compromised records. That’s just half the year – 2019 is set to be a record-breaking year for data breaches. As we start a new decade, organizations will need to put more focus on discovering where all of their data lives, determining whether it’s sensitive and how to best secure it. New compliance standards like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are creating an opportunity for organizations to develop good data management policies that allows them to better protect themselves from data breaches.
CCPA will be under a microscope
“When GDPR rolled out, the fines were so high that many companies questioned if they would even be enforced. It wasn’t until this past year when The Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK fined British Airways $230M as a result of the 2018 data breach that organizations realized these fines were taken very seriously. But the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), set to become effective next January 1, will raise a new standard for consumer privacy rights at the U.S. state level. Falling in line with the privacy laws of Massachusetts, Vermont, Ohio and others, state and local governments will closely monitor the business impact privacy regulations like CCPA have on their local economies. They’ll want to understand whether or not organizations will continue to do business in the states with harsher privacy laws or if they look elsewhere to avoid costly fines. To combat this internally, CISOs and those whose role it is to handle security and compliance will look for tools and solutions to help them achieve compliance standards and regulations.”
GDPR and Brexit: Continued chaos
“Simply put, in the short term, Brexit will have no impact on GDPR as it will continue to apply to the UK once it leaves the EU. As it stands now, GDPR will be incorporated into UK domestic law as part of the European Union (Withdrawal) Agreement and will continue to function alongside the Data Protection Act of 2018. However, with the upcoming winter election in the UK and the opposing views on the Brexit agreement from the candidates, there are some lingering questions that still require answers.
Currently, the GDPR states that personal data can only be transferred out of the European Economic Area to countries with an adequate level of protection. What will the position be for EU companies needing to transfer personal data to the UK? And what about transfers of data from the UK to the USA post-Brexit? Will the UK have to negotiate its own arrangements with the US? Will it attempt to piggyback on the Privacy Shield arrangements that the US has with the EU? Businesses will be looking to the UK government and the Information Commissioner to clarify such questions because without the effective free flow of personal data, there will be a detrimental effect on the economy of the UK. We can expect to see some answers to these questions in 2020. In the meantime, businesses will need to be on their toes and ready to adapt to new changes quickly as the election and Brexit’s timeline is still in flux.”
Need for Data Security within Freemium Modeled Companies
“As retail continues to move from brick and mortar to online only, we will see an increased focus on data privacy and security – not just in traditional retail but throughout every business conducting e-commerce. Two industries that we expect to see an added data security pressure are gaming and social networking. Both industries run on a freemium model – one that we see continuing to gain momentum in 2020. In this model, customers are either paying for a product outright or the company is collecting personal data in exchange for a good or service. There are little compliance regulations for this model. As we move into 2020, companies with this freemium model will need to prioritize their security measures for the destruction and disposal of personal data and transactions. If they do not comply with consumer privacy and data regulations as well as security regulations to avoid fraud and cyberattack, they will see severe data threats.”
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About the Author
Peter Duthie, Co-CEO & Chief Architect
Peter Duthie is a co-CEO of Ground Labs; as its Chief Architect, he drives the company’s future innovation. Peter created the foundational technologies that empower Ground Labs’ customers to discover, identify and secure all of their sensitive data. Peter also assembled the engineering team that created Ground Labs’ solutions for its enterprise and SMB customers. He is currently based in Austin, Texas at the company’s North American headquarters.
Before co-founding Ground Labs, Peter served as chief architect for Sensory Networks, a provider of pattern-matching technology for network security applications that was acquired by Intel. Peter developed the company’s core technology which is in use today by major security vendors to accelerate their appliance and hardware performance. He has also held senior engineering roles with Permabit (acquired by Red Hat) and Paceline Systems (acquired by Motorola).
A graduate of the University of Sydney’s computer science program, Peter is named as the inventor on multiple patents related to the acceleration of anti-malware security applications.
