The COVID-19 pandemic has added another layer of complexity to the workplace, as companies are increasingly reliant upon technology to establish secure remote work capabilities.
IT modernization remains a key topic for business leaders currently and part of this involves ensuring all company cyber assets are secure.
Legislation piles up
According to Keith Neilson, Technical Evangelist at CloudSphere, the issue is complicated by competing legislation. Taking the U.S. as an example, Neilson notes: “In the U.S. alone, there are several disparate federal and state laws, some of which only regulate specific types of data – like credit or health data, or specific populations – like children.”
Moving beyond the U.S., Neilson adds: “Combine these regulations with the many different international laws that aim to ensure data privacy, such as GDPR, and compliance for companies with global operations becomes an extremely complex undertaking.”
Understanding assets
An important step that makes complying with the various regulations is with understanding the assets that an organization has and how these are interconnected. In relation to this issue, Neilson cautions: “Enterprises cannot ensure compliance and data security unless all assets are properly known, tagged, and mapped in the cloud.”
From this, he recommends: “To avoid jeopardizing sensitive company or customer data, organizations must take the first step of cyber asset management to secure visibility of all cyber assets in their IT environment and understand connections between business services.”
The scope needs to be relatively wide, says Neilson: “This includes identifying misconfigurations and automatically prioritizing risks to improve overall security posture, allowing for real-time visibility and management of all sensitive data.”
Digital publishers need to be aware
Also commenting on the regulatory front for Digital Journal is Alexander Azarov, CEO and Founder, Clickio.
Azarov’s perspective is: “As data regulation continues to be handled differently across regions, it’s vital publishers and developers stay up-to-date with changes as they happen. For example, Italy recently announced new guidelines on cookie banner compliance, meaning any site that receives traffic from this region will need to review their use of cookies and other tracking technologies to ensure they align with updated requirements.”
With this, there are implications for businesses active in the digital space. As Azarov observes: “Updates like this are likely to have some impact on consent rates, so it’s crucial publishers are adaptable. For example, they should test alternative banner designs and work with holistic Consent Management Platforms that keep them updated on regulation changes, while ensuring compliance and optimising site design to drive higher consent rates.”
