By John Summers, VP & Chief Technology Officer, Akamai Technologies

The rise of privacy is tomorrow's trending topic

Starting with GDPR in 2018, the topic of privacy and data regulation has been on a steady rise, making headlines across the U.S and fueling conversations between big tech leaders. In the coming year, however, we will see privacy as a standalone topic explode, becoming a household topic that consumers all over the globe are aware of and concerned about. As a whole, privacy will become an end-user focus as people care more about knowing what data companies are collecting, what is being done with that data and how it is being kept safe.

Going back to the security basics: placing employee data training front and center - This past year we've seen a multitude of data breaches, impacting the financials and reputations of corporations across the country. In order to fully comply with CCPA, we'll see businesses develop an increased focus on education and training, retraining employees on how to handle the changes that the new regulation will cause. With this, new internal programs and practices designed to help employees manage data will blossom within organizations.

The same way activists avoid animal-tested products, consumers will avoid untrustworthy brands, taking full control of their data - With 83% of US consumers claiming they will stop spending money at a business for several months after a breach, how companies handle consumer data will become a top priority in 2020. With laws like CCPA going live, consumers will begin to hold businesses accountable, demanding answers or taking their money elsewhere. In turn, companies will begin to feel the pressure to not only comply with data regulation but to also answer to their customers truthfully in order to avoid serious consequences.

With data driving the economy, businesses will take the wheel, embracing the regulation that comes with it - In the coming year, businesses must become responsible and trustworthy "data keepers," ensuring that the information they possess is encrypted, and if stolen, that it can't be used. Many people are under the impression that once CCPA goes into effect, businesses will struggle with complying. While this may be true, becoming CCPA compliant will allow businesses to better understand where their data is coming from, where it is being stored and which applications are using which end user data elements.  This will result in better visibility, efficiency and control of the way data is used across the business.

The digital marketing and advertising ecosystem will be the next top target as a new class of attacks emerges - As consumer experience becomes more important -- and elaborate - marketers and advertisers harvesting troves of customer data will find themselves susceptible to a new wave of attacks from cybercriminals. Hoping to capitalize on the data possessed by agencies, adversaries will increasingly go after the digital marketing and advertising business processes, compromising the countless amount of customer data stored. In the coming year, we can expect digital advertisers to amp up security efforts to combat this, yet we can also expect to see more consumers opting-out of experiences that require data collection.

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About the Author

John oversees the security and technology strategy for web security and web performance at Akamai. He is a frequent speaker on the topics of Internet threats, enterprise security and the digital transformation of enterprise infrastructures to become more secure and resilient in the cloud-first, SaaS-first, mobile-first world we live in today.

Prior to his current role, John led the development of Akamai's Enterprise Security and Web Security products which consist of cloud-based threat protection, identity and access management, web application security and DDoS defense services that leverage Akamai's unique distributed computing platform to provide a global layer of security that scales on demand. John is a patent holder on Akamai's distributed web application firewall technology.

John joined Akamai to manage the Web Acceleration products from 2007 until 2011, during which time that business grew 30 fold.

Prior to Akamai, John led Managed Security Services businesses at Unisys and at Genuity.