The Cloud Collision and Global Data Sensitivity

“Cloudification”, the modern cloud phenomenon, is a collision of security services, data storage and applications. It has not only enhanced the availability of free-flowing data, but also has enabled thousands of enterprises in accessing anything from anywhere. However, this phenomenon has raised many concerns related to data privacy and the security of personally identifiable information (PII) being collected by international government agencies and businesses. As a result, a global data privacy movement is shaping up. The location of data storage in cloud has become quite a sensitive issue,and organizations across the globe are demanding to know exactly where, how, and when the cloud data is being shared across international borders.

The debate concerning data security is highly active in many regions of the world including the U.S and EU.EU has recently passed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); the regulation will take few years to goes into effect. It will create a set framework, which will apply to all 28 EU member nations, under which all businesses will follow a unified and comprehensive rules for managing sensitive data of all EU citizens.

Addressing Data Privacy Violations

Any organization’s business operations that are information sensitive rely on SaaS, and in addition to a shift to mobile operated platforms; in such business scenario, keeping control over data location and simultaneously adhering to privacy regulations become quite a challenging task. As new regulations will be implied by many international governments in future, it will be confusing for companies to clearly understand the consequences of non-compliance.

As per tech experts, data that have been stored either in hybrid, public, or private cloud required to be evaluated at regular intervalsto truly analyze its risk potential. The data owner holds the ultimate responsibility for its security and privacy rights, and therefore, it becomes imperative for organizations to nurture a true security culture at different levels within the business.

Organizations, be it from EU or any other region, must focus on addressing data privacy violations for optimum data security. Many specifics will be hammered out in time to come; following are some proposed measures that organizations can consider:

• Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) – As regulations such as GDPR will come into effect, organizations dealing in information collection or managing large scale sensitive data should consider assigning a Data Protection Officer or Chief Privacy Officer (CPO). That way, organizations can ensure to take quick decisions with respect to the evolving regulatory landscape. Such designated officials can be given responsibility of ensuring all kinds of data protection on a day to day basis. Moreover, such officials can be involved in day to day vendor decisions.
• Binding Corporate Rules (BCR) – It consists of legally enforceable rules applicable for personal data processing. The set of rules ensures utmost level of protection when any organization transfers personal data between members of a corporate group. BCR are required to be approved by respective national data protection authorities and it ensures compliance with respect to adequate data privacy safeguards.
• End data hoarding – The evolution of technology has made it easier and cheaper for enterprises to store data. However, one must not presume that Big Data is necessarily a better data; organizations are required to follow a data-minimalist approach for risk minimization and greater control.
• Investing in IT – Complying with data security laws is definitely going to cost and will increase the IT budget.However, organizations will have to pay much more if they won’t comply; this will directly increase pressure on IT teams to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and breaches. Organizations will have to pay hefty fines irrespective of the nature of the transfer of data, be it accidental or intentional. To prevent this, enterprises will have to invest more on IT teams for better data protection.

For majority of organizations, be it local or international, data privacy has become a juggernaut challenge to tackle, especially for organizations adopting cloud technologies. Enterprises can run their operations using cloud technologies provided that they have put required systems and procedures in place to ensure that any personal data remain within its home country of record.

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