Data Privacy and Protection: What Businesses Should Do
By Kiersten E. Todt
| November 15, 2019
Data privacy and protection should be priorities for every business, large or small, regardless of sector or geographic location. Data collection is now a critical component of all business operations, whether it is client data to perform a simple service or enterprise data to ensure operations of critical infrastructure. In today’s operating environment and with the continued expansion of the digital economy, data are a critical corporate asset. Despite the functionality and importance of data, it is difficult to encourage businesses to protect data on their own.[2]
But, this data protection challenge does not mean the US should leap to regulation. When I served as the Executive Director of the independent, bipartisan Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity in 2016, the Commission examined how to secure the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, recognizing the increasing interdependencies that were growing at that time and which have only been growing exponentially since 2016. The Commission ultimately determined that the best approach was to allow market forces to create incentives for companies to secure IoT devices; companies would define their business case for why “secure to market” should trump “first to market.” If those market forces fail and companies do not take appropriate steps to secure IoT devices, then regulation should be introduced.
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