At the dawn of Fourth Industrial Revolution — 1.6 Trillion USD lost on Data Breaches

R Strategic
Sep 3, 2018 · 3 min read
Copyright — R Strategic Global 2018

The Global Data Privacy, Data Protection & Human Rights Report, 2018 evaluates that the direct and indirect cost of losses incurred by businesses due to data breach in 2017 amounts to 1.6 trillion USD. The amount of losses incurred in 2017 is the highest since the evolution of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Explore — Global Data Privacy, Data Protection and Human Rights Report, 2018

According to the report “The technologies are constantly evolving and innovating in this fourth industrial revolution and is integrating more and more sectors of the economy. The dependence towards these technologies is forcing the innovators to come up with unique features. As the dependence on technology is increasing, the concerns related to it is also growing.”

Cyber security, data privacy and data protection are all intermingled and they have emerged as a major threat in this fourth industrial revolution. Regardless of any specific sector, the concerns related to privacy is relevant to all. In the era of internet of things, where each and every device is connected to internet, privacy has become more relevant than ever before. The whole concept of digital economy is based on data, and securing that data has not yet been the main concern.

The Global Data Privacy, Data Protection & Human Rights Report, 2018 has highlighted that the sector which faces the maximum amount of financial losses is the health sector. As this sector has the most sensitive data attached to it, it becomes highly vulnerable for the individuals who have shared their health information.

Explore — Global Data Privacy, Data Protection and Human Rights Report, 2018

The recognition of privacy in the world has been slow, but since the revelations of Edward Snowden, many countries have started to address the issue of privacy. It has been noted that 80% of the countries across the globe has mentioned privacy in their Constitutions. But just the mentioning of such an integral part of human right is not enough.

Various international organizations have specifically mentioned the importance of right to privacy. Nonetheless, there have been very few countries who have actually enacted the legal frameworks on data privacy and protection. The meaning of privacy has changed a lot, and especially in this digital epoch privacy has multi facet connotations.

The government has been lagging behind in coming up with proper consolidated frameworks for data privacy. The number of data breaches have been growing exponentially since last few years. Without proper laws and legal recluse, the black hat hackers are continuing to use the technological innovations in their favor.

It has been noted that the more technology is evolving, the illicit elements of the same technology are actually harming every possible section of the economy. The policy makers should focus on incubating the technological innovations, with respect to the legal hazards that it is creating, and is likely to create in future.

R Strategic

R Strategic is a Business Think Tank that focuses on the lacuna that is arising in this digital epoch.

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