Jane Edwards
More than 130 countries have privacy laws in place and a new Cisco report has found that 79 percent of security professionals said they believe these laws meant to hold organizations and governments accountable for their data management have had a positive impact.
Cisco said Tuesday it surveyed more than 4,400 security professionals from 25 countries in summer 2020 for the Data Privacy Benchmark Study and found that 93 percent of organizations said their privacy teams played a key role in helping them respond to COVID-19 pandemic-related challenges, including the shift to telework and implementation of controls on the use and access of shared personal information.
“As this latest Cisco research shows, many organizations were unprepared for the shift to remote working during the pandemic. Robust privacy and security protections have become even more critical in enabling people to work and interact securely from anywhere,†said Jeetu Patel, senior vice president and general manager for security and applications at Cisco.
Organizations’ average budget on privacy efforts rose to $2.4 million in 2020 from $1.2 million in the previous year, according to the report.
The study found that 90 percent of respondents consider external privacy certifications, including ISO 27701 and APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules, as a buying factor when choosing a vendor or a product.
The report also showed that 93 percent of organizations report privacy metrics to the boards of directors and executive management, including privacy audit findings, impact assessments and data breaches.
