Regulatory changes focusing on emerging technology are increasing the complexity of compliance for businesses. As innovation continues to outpace compliance, regulators have to protect consumers and ensure transparency while still allowing businesses to operate effectively.
Compliance costs can affect the revenue of technology companies but non-compliance can have even more detrimental effects. Here are some ways you can fail to comply and the consequences you may face as a result.
You leave data security to chance
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is changing how businesses handle data. Businesses dealing with EU citizens in any way need to comply or face multi-million-dollar fines.
Some high-profile lawsuits have been filed against top technology companies. While the focus of the GDPR is on Europe, many companies all over the world have become more conscious about offering privacy protection to their customers.
In the current environment, consumers may be wary about handing over private documents, such as passport verification. The ID Analyzer platform is engineered with this in mind, providing a global identity verification solution that makes it easy for businesses to show clients how seriously they take their privacy and the security of their platforms. Creating business trust is essential in a competitive and crowded marketplace.
You don’t perform regular software updates
Regular software updates are important for all businesses, including technology companies. If the software is not consistently updated, this leaves a door open for hackers. Companies that have a significant data breach due to technical neglect are likely to face serious repercussions, particularly in terms of loss of revenue.
There have been several high-profile cases where companies have exposed the personal information of clients to criminals because their software was not updated. Software updates often have the latest security fixes and IT managers must ensure that businesses are current with software updates and don’t have vulnerabilities hackers can exploit.
You don’t have an Internet of Things policy
There’s been an explosive growth of interconnected devices and with this has come more vulnerability in business networks. IoT endpoint vulnerabilities can lead to financial, reputational, and even physical harm to individuals.
For compliance standards to be met, businesses need to audit all devices in the network to make sure they are compliant with security regulations. Some questions that need answering relate to the storage of data, access to it and whether all parties involved have given consent to the collection. Audits need to happen frequently as there are often changes in IoT architecture.
You ignore BYOD issues
The use of personal mobile devices introduces security vulnerabilities and with so many people working from home during the pandemic, this issue has become more relevant than ever. Businesses can deal with the BYOD (bring your own device) issue by having a clear policy that they can back up with technical controls.
Businesses can use mobile device management (MDM) software and establish security protocols for all devices. Managers can enforce device lock passwords to prevent data from being compromised. Enacting BYOD policies means maintaining control over what data employees can access with their personal mobile devices.
You share data with third parties
Facebook is one of the companies that shared data with third parties and had to face the consequences. This revealed a potential area of non-compliance.
Encrypting personal data and never allowing it to be shared over insecure forms of communication like email is essential but businesses also need to have appropriate policies in place for sharing data with third parties. They should only share data when it’s considered absolutely necessary. When sharing personal data, explicit consent is required from every person involved.