If you’re not taking steps to secure your client’s data, you may run the risk of a data breach and a subsequent scandal.
We all remember back in 2018 when Facebook and Cambridge Analytica were fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for trading the data of 87 million Americans, don’t we? Each company faced huge repercussions and fines worth thousands of dollars. It wasn’t enough to completely end their roles as corporate giants, but it did do significant harm to their reputations. Cyber security has evolved to become the headstone of many a lesser company, simply because a hacker chose to prey on their unguarded information.
If you own or manage an SME and you are not taking the appropriate steps to protect your clients’ data, you are risking everything in exactly the same way. Cyber security is now a necessary part of running a business. Without it, you are in breach of data protection laws, which vary from country to country. Here in the UK, we take our data protection laws from the EU’s lead, each of which were amended in 2018. However, data security has been an issue for far longer than that.
Cyber Security in the 90’s
Cyber security has its roots in Britain in 1998. As the oldest among us remember, there was no internet up until the beginning of the 90s. Those early sites were chat sites and pages of advertising for businesses. It wasn’t long before the UK government looked at the growth of the internet and realised it was going to be huge. They drew up and implemented the first internet based data protection act in 1998. To be clear: the internet was not yet ten years old and hackers were already finding ways to trade in personal information. The government were so worried about this that they drew up a law to make companies protect any information they stored both on and offline.
Data Protection in the 00’s
The Freedom of Information act came next, circa 2000. This act allowed the general public to approach companies that held data on them and ask for it. It was extended in 2005.
The PDPA came into play in 2010. This stands for the Personal Data Protection Act 2010. The PDPA applies to all forms of personal data involved in transactions. The rules contained within it govern the way that organisations use our personal data. It was around now that businesses realised the need for cyber security specialists in the corporate world.
Modern Data Protection
The modern world has entered Industry 4.0 in full swing. Everything that can be digitised to help the workforce, shall be digitised to help the workforce. If it isn’t already, every aspect of your business that can take place in the digital world, will take place there in the next few years. Cyber security jobs at Hays technology have exploded in worth and frequency. The modern day need for data protection specialists has grown beyond all proportion. Cyber security is tipped as the hot tech jobs market of the ongoing future. Make sure your company takes it seriously or you risk losing millions.
