Cambridge Analytica Scandal – One Year On

In light of the one-year anniversary of the Cambridge Analytica scandal on Sunday 17th March, please see below for a comment from Jasmit Sagoo, senior director at Veritas. Jasmit explains how in the last year, the way consumers create and share data has changed, as have their expectations of how businesses should use their data.  

Jasmit Sagoo, Senior Director at Northern Europe, Veritas Technologies: 

“Have businesses learnt the lesson about responsible data collection and usage, one year on from the Cambridge Analytica scandal that shook the world? 

“Over the last year, the way that consumers create and share data has changed – and so has the way that they expect businesses to store and process it. High-profile breaches, scandals, and the introduction of the GDPR last May have made consumers more cautious about what data they share, where it’s being stored and who it’s being accessed by.   

“We’ve seen what can happen when this trust is broken, for both the user and the business they shared their data with. Our research has found that poor data protection can have a dire commercial impact on companies – 56% of consumers would dump a business that fails to protect their data, and 47% would abandon their loyalty and turn to a competitor. 

“Over the past year, consumers have grown far warier of what data they are giving away and how it is safeguarded, even if they feel like they are getting something in return. This means that for businesses built on data, caution is the watch word of today. 

“In the modern data economy, businesses have two responsibilities: firstly, to understand their customers, and secondly, to properly protect their data. The businesses that fail to do so will find themselves a cautionary tale.”