What the Future of Data Protection Means for Your Business

By Jason Rader, Insight CISO

It’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Insight’s team of experts strives to help organizations navigate security and compliance complexity. So, what are the safe practices associated with dispersed workforces, platforms, edge and IoT? Read on and go to insight.com to learn more.

Data protection is a top concern for businesses, and demand for data privacy process improvement is high. As organizations look toward the future of data privacy and data protection regulations, robust cybersecurity solutions are vital to business operations.

Data protection is the process of securing essential data from corruption, compromise or loss. Furthermore, the process can restore data to a functional state should it become out of reach or unusable.

Because a great degree of sensitive information is at stake, data protection is not only a legal necessity but also imperative to protecting and maintaining your business’s reputation. Companies regularly store sensitive information about clients, staff, business partners and more. Data privacy is more than just compliance; it strengthens the trusting relationships that grow your business.

When the pandemic led millions of employees nationwide to work remotely, data privacy and protection took center stage. Remote devices are the most vulnerable to attacks from cybercriminals, making endpoint devices such as desktops, laptops, servers and more the most prominent targets. Cybercriminals often use these devices as an entry point to access business networks, steal company data, attack software vulnerabilities and hold pertinent information hostage. Endpoint security can help lower the risk of these types of threats and minimize cyberattacks against your remote workers.

User access control is another way to protect your organization’s information. Data access controls allow you to authorize employees, users and any third parties to gain access to your data in a way that meets security, privacy and compliance requirements. These controls prevent unauthorized users from accessing sensitive information.

It’s clear that data protection and privacy are important for businesses — and that consumers are willing to sever ties with organizations they don’t trust with their data. Per Gartner research, robust data privacy will become a reason why people choose specific products, similar to “organic” or “free trade” labels in recent years.

In addition to the risks of a data breach, it’s important for companies to understand and stay aware of regulation changes. Let’s look at General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how it impacts business compliance.

How does GDPR impact your business?

On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a privacy policy that sets guidelines for collecting and processing personal information in the European Union (EU), came into effect. The GDPR has affected businesses worldwide, and the regulation enlists severe fines against those who violate its standards. Through the ordinance, citizens have more control over their personal data, and can trust that their information is adequately handled.

The passing of GDPR has directly impacted data privacy and security standards while also indirectly encouraging organizations to develop and improve their own cybersecurity measures to limit the risk of a data breach. By the end of 2023, 65% of the world’s population will have their personal data covered under a data privacy regulation. In comparison; this percentage was 10% in 2019.

Consumers are entrusting cloud services with their data, increasing the risk of data breach with more and more online activity. A new report from Cisco suggests that GDPR compliance reduces data breach impact. Incident response is important, legal and security experts agree, but organizations are cautioned not to rely on observation alone.

Positive implications of GDPR in the workplace

The GDPR has become a standard for other countries to regulate how organizations collect, process, use, disclose and save confidential data. Many other extensive privacy regulations have come into place since GDPR, such as Brazil’s General Personal Data Protection Law (LGPD) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

The business benefits of GDPR and similar regulations include:

• Improved cybersecurity
• Standardization of data protection
• Brand safety
• Increased customer loyalty

All in all, GDPR favors consumers, and the regulations allow them to see which businesses have their data, why they have it, where it’s stored and who is accessing it.

Data protection experts on your side

With a technology partner like Insight, you’ll have a team of committed experts to walk you through every step of privacy changes, endpoint vulnerabilities, user access control and leading solutions for data protection. Our deep catalog of trusted security solutions will keep your most sensitive information secure.

Learn more about our security practice and elevate your security mission by reading our eBook on the “4 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch in 2022.”

As the Chief Information Security Officer for Insight Enterprises, Jason Rader leads the charge to help the Fortune 500 solutions integrator and its clients develop solutions that encompass the latest skills, tools and methodologies to mitigate the risk of cyberthreats. He has worked in the technology industry since 1996 and as a security consultant since 2005. See more content from Jason.