Data privacy predictions from Ground Labs

As Ground Labs Co-Founder, Stephen Cavey leads a global team empowering enterprise partners to discover, manage and secure sensitive data across their organizations. 

Stephen has deep security domain expertise with a focus on electronic payments and data security compliance. He is a frequent speaker at industry events such as PrivSec Global, and his expert analysis has been featured in media outlets including the Financial Times, Entrepreneur, SiliconANGLE, among others. He is also a member of the Entrepreneur Leadership Network and Forbes Technology Council.

Prior to Ground Labs, Stephen held leadership positions at Paycorp, an integrated electronic payments solution provider owned by KKR. Stephen also served in engineering roles with Webpay, a payment services provider later acquired by Fidelity, and Webtel, an early Australian ISP. Cavey shares his 2022 predictions about gamification, data security plans, data privacy, and the evolving data compliance landscape.

Awareness and gamification will lead the future of data security plans

As employees went remote the amount of potential data exposure greatly increased. This increased risk highlighted the strongest security weakness that criminals were actively targeting the organization's people.

Traditional forms of mitigation of this risk in the form of physical training through classroom delivery have not been as effective as required to reduce the instances of data breaches caused by employees. In the coming year, CISOs and IT leaders will incorporate all parts of an organization into creating a well-rounded cybersecurity strategy that places employees at the center in order to mitigate risk.  We’re going to see more next-generation job roles such as “head of remote.” These new roles will be tasked with improving the remote experience which can open up a strong opportunity to weave a culture of data security and good data hygiene and awareness practices that are driven through educating on the unique risks of working remotely in isolation for prolonged periods. Adding elements of gamification is also an excellent way to remind, engage and motivate employees to practice better cybersecurity habits. 

Using data privacy as a competitive advantage rather than a “box-ticking” exercise

While there has been little cross-border enforcement of data privacy laws, we have certainly seen the toll of consumer pressure on international businesses. According to McKinsey, 87% of consumers would not do business with a company if they had concerns about its security practices, and 71% said they would stop doing business with a company if it gave away their sensitive data without permission. Considering the recent incline of data breaches, with a 141% increase in compromised records due to breaches in 2020 compared to 2019, the stakes are high for businesses when it comes to staying compliant by keeping personal information safe and secure, and ultimately, cultivating customer trust.

At the same time, new Ground Labs research reveals that the majority of U.S. consumers (71%) admit they rarely read data sharing disclaimers. Businesses should treat data compliance like any other corporate social responsibility pledge. “Can I trust you with my data?” is different from “Are you GDPR compliant?” Businesses will need to lead with integrity and transparency when it comes to communicating with customers why and how their data is being collected, what it is used for, and how that company plans to keep it safe and secure.

Moving into 2022, as companies continue to navigate the evolving data compliance landscape, they should not only prioritize data privacy but use it as a competitive advantage rather than consider it a box-ticking exercise.