In 2017, the bad guys after your data will continue to be a growing threat. In many ways our tools are getting better with more horsepower and more dollars being spent on security in general. The challenge is the proliferation of data, platforms that house the data, and the fact that overall security options continue to grow and are confusing at best.
Building on that confusion is the current state of data privacy and controls, including government and state-sponsored regulations that say how and when data can be accessed.
2017 will be a unique year, with Brexit triggers on the horizon and a potential official exit from the EU in 2019. At that point, expectations for how data can be accessed within the EU and Britain will likely be locked in, but it’s unknown exactly how that will play out. The EU has separate data protection rules that will become enforceable law in 2018 and will restrict what data can be kept and how the “owner” may control it.
In the post-election US, it’s likely the Patriot Act and associated data privacy restrictions will go on, with the emphasis on “security” versus privacy. If that’s the case, multi-national companies will look to keep data outside the United States as necessary, and will try and reduce trans-border transfers of data if they can. It’s also likely that increased use of encryption and further restrictions on how companies can limit key access will also grow.
What’s this mean? Keep your data local, if you can. Understand how and where it’s being used, copied and what restrictions are necessary. Secure it. But don’t rest because the changing landscape will keep shifting. There will likely be more regulation to keep up with!
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