Yesterday in the Queen’s Speech a new Data Protection Bill was proposed. This new plan suggests that the Government will be going even further that the legislation put forward by the GDPR. IT security experts from Delphix and Thales e-Security commented below.
Iain Chidgey, VP and General Manager International at Delphix:
“The Data Protection Bill as outlined in the Queen’s Speech today suggests the UK plans to go even further than the legislation put in place by GDPR. While GDPR will be folded into UK law post-Brexit, the proposed bill adds additional safeguards, including overhauling the powers of law enforcement and the powers of the Information Commissioner.
If the government is serious about making the UK the safest country in the world to be an online user, this legislation is another step towards that goal. It shows the government recognises that data privacy is a basic human right that must be protected. However, it’s only achievable if organisations have clear guidelines to follow and adequate time to replace or amend systems to comply with it.
With 90% of data held in test, reporting and analytics systems, UK companies must put in place the ability to mask personal data. Not only will this protect individuals, it will also remove the compliance requirements for these systems as the data can no longer be used to find someone’s identity. This has the added benefit that companies will not need to invest time, money and resources on complying with a right to be forgotten in these secondary systems.”
Peter Carlisle, VP of EMEA at Thales e-Security:
“It is very encouraging to see that the government will be placing a greater emphasis on establishing a world-class data protection regime in the UK with the introduction of this new law.
The greater the volumes of data accessible online, the greater the potential for exposure and the increased chance of hackers taking advantage of systems that some have thought impregnable.
Ensuring that both individuals and businesses have as much control as possible over where and how their data is used is critical to the UK’s broader cybersecurity strategy.
As high-profile data breaches continue to plague our society, it is only right that the UK government is implementing more fortified measures to tackle them, particularly as we draw nearer to the widespread introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation next year.”
The opinions expressed in this post belong to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.