Sek Leong | Channel and Marketing Manager
The traditional focus on security has been on breach prevention and threat detection but these can only go so far. For organisations going through digital transformation there needs to be a layered approach to security – complimenting these traditional strategies with data protection.In the evolving digital world of cloud, social and apps, data is now the perimeter.
According to Domo CEO Josh James’ recent blog post “By 2020, there will be 40x more bytes of data than there are stars in the observable universe.”
Data, data and more data! And this is only going to grow as organisations in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) continue to transform their business to take advantage of the digital economy. Think about it – how much information are you sharing when you buy something online? Do you even think twice before you click the “Submit” button and send your personal information in an effort to quicklyget your online bargain?!
Make no mistake, sensitive data is not only about Personal Identifiable Information (PII) but also valuable information such as intellectual property (e.g. product designs, proprietary software), financial information and legal documents (e.g. contracts). All these make data the new currency that organisations use to maintain competitive advantage, tailor offerings for customers, predict market trends, etc.
However, data is only valuable if its integrity is maintained which is why regulators like the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the EU released the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) scheme, CPS 234 and GDPR respectively to ensure the protection of sensitive customer data.
So how do organisations in ANZ fare when it comes to data security?
Among some of the interesting key findings of the Thales 2019 Data Threat Report-Australia/New Zealand Edition are:
- 95% of Australian/New Zealand organisations use sensitive data in digitally transformative technologies
- 60% of survey respondents said that their organisation has experienced a data breach in the past
- Less than 36% encrypt their sensitive data
Interestingly, the last two points above are conflicting, don’t you think? One of the common key recommendations of the various data protection regulations is to use encryption to achieve the goal of privacy by design. However, it appears that organisations in ANZ are not taking up this recommendation.
Download the Thales 2019 Data Threat Report-Australia/New Zealand Edition to find out more about the changing face of data protection in ANZ.
And if you have any questions or like to discuss this more, don’t be shy; please do contact us. We’d love to hear from you.