What Are Some of The Current Data Privacy Trends in 2021?

From AI automation to an ever-increasing cloud migration, the promises of IT are many. However, and as always, their accomplishment will depend very much on the data available, its accessibility and its protection. In the digital world in which we operate, data is today after humans the main capital of the company. Without the availability of the information system, without its data, the company is nothing. We saw it again recently with the general breakdown of Google services. However, we know now that trends are shifting and new ideas and protocols are appearing. This is to protect data, to store data and to add power where it is needed. As 2021 approaches, there is an acceleration in topics related to data protection and security. Here are some key trends that seem to me to be on the horizon right now and that are set to punctuate the next 12 months. We know more and more companies are looking into this, so we will see protection as a priority.

1. A dramatic rise in ransomware attacks

The pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in ransomware attacks and truthfully, the lights are red regardless of the size of the company. Companies can no longer close their eyes to this phenomenon and must anticipate it. The stakes are high. The ransomware economy has become a real scourge that no business, large or small, can seem to escape. Two essential questions then arise: pay the ransom or resist. It is predicted that 2021 is going to be the year of resistance. More and more companies should take the path of refusal and stop giving in to blackmail. There are two key principles behind this phenomenon: First, one ransomware attack can hide another and therefore paying a ransom does not guarantee companies that they will not be attacked again a few months later. So what good is it? Second, paying a ransom directly feeds the vicious cycle of cybercrime. Each ransom paid allows cybercriminals to improve, to strengthen their arsenal. Refusing to pay is in a way slowing or even weakening the constant threat of cybercrime.

2. The security of cloud applications will become central

In 2021, accelerating business migration to the cloud should not come at the expense of data security. Certainly the big cloud players on which the majority of companies rely offer a range of services to support this migration. However, they do not give a business the data protection it needs. IT and security teams should therefore not take this protection for granted with the cloud. They must give priority to securing and restoring this data. The Cloud has already been a hit with companies and it is a great way to store data in all areas. It also offers maximum protection and more.

3. The democratization of AI in business

Finally, the third trend to focus on concerns the role played by artificial intelligence. This is within the democratization of computing. AI is already found in many areas of our daily lives. Already democratized for the general public, artificial intelligence will also be implanted massively in business processes. It has already been used within factories among other things. This trivialization should greatly benefit IT teams but also businesses. In particular, the democratization of AI will lead to considerable time savings which will undoubtedly impact the capacity for innovation. It will also impact the level of competitiveness of companies.

4. The year of data protection laws

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in 2018, was one of the first and groundbreaking laws to focus on consumers' digital privacy rights. It required companies to collect and use personal information to report data breaches. It also gave users more rights to control the company's information about them, such as: B. to request the deletion of your data ("the right to be forgotten"). California issued a similar judgment (CCPA) in June 2020. India's privacy policy will become law in 2021, with more countries to follow. According to Gartner, 65% of the world's population will put their data under data protection laws by 2023. This is good news for many.

5. Data Protection

Businesses will continue to implement data protection automation for users GDPR gives users the right to ask a company to disclose any data they have collected about them. And if the user so desires, the company must delete it completely. To address these requirements, companies will introduce data protection automation functions that automatically collect, compile and present the data to the user. In addition, these functions delete all data if necessary. Companies can develop them themselves or look for outsourcing or B2B solutions. Firstly, a user has to contact our support to either present their data or to delete it completely.

6. Person-centered approach to data management

In order to be able to react quickly to requests from data subjects, data protection officers must achieve a level of transparent data traceability. When answering such requests, you can quickly see where a personal data record or a data element is in the system at that moment. Organizations strive to develop a people-centric view of data by following a people-centric approach where personal data is at the heart of all compliance processes. This makes it much easier to respond to data subject access requests, data mapping, and data retention policy management by giving consent back to users. It is expected that this approach will become a trend in the coming years and that artificial intelligence will be used in important data mapping activities.

In light of these trends, data protection is one of the great challenges of 2021. To accelerate their migration to the cloud, deploy AI, innovate and become more competitive while facing cyberthreats, companies must guarantee the availability of their data, wherever it is. In today's data-driven economy, therefore, data availability is the top priority. We are likely to see more money put into data protection. Data, after all, is certainly a big priority and comes with a lot of worth.