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CS Nov-Dec 2020

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Data privacy<br />

today's legal reality.<br />

has been re-opened.<br />

The US has a strong national agenda; their<br />

economic interests and national security<br />

concerns don't necessarily align with EU data<br />

protection laws. The question now is how the<br />

US will respond. Will US companies be fined<br />

for violations of GDPR or could US intelligence<br />

agencies be restricted in their access to the<br />

personal data of European citizens? We<br />

should expect some debate; with national<br />

security, it is a two-way street. Data-driven<br />

business with high economic value is more<br />

biased to US interests.<br />

What are the implications for European<br />

enterprises?<br />

MF: Many will look at this and think, "There is<br />

nothing we can do". Most use tools provided<br />

by third parties from outside the enterprise<br />

and there is a high dependency on external<br />

contractors. In today's world, there is no going<br />

back from using office tools, databases,<br />

analytics tool, integrations…it is not only<br />

cloud service providers offering these, and the<br />

biggest players are in the US; in Europe, we<br />

have fewer data-driven businesses, and many<br />

promising EU based technologies and startups<br />

have been acquired in their infancy.<br />

If you remove those tools because US<br />

companies don't meet the required standards<br />

of GDPR, many EU companies can't function<br />

well. European enterprises are required to<br />

comply with all data protection laws, so they<br />

must identify any areas where they don't and<br />

take action. If they fail to do so, they risk<br />

getting dragged into a maelstrom of fines.<br />

The potential financial consequences of this<br />

ruling are huge.<br />

What can enterprises do, in concrete terms?<br />

MF: This ECJ ruling was effective immediately.<br />

So, it is important for enterprises to act now<br />

and mitigate the potential risks. European<br />

companies operating mainly in Europe already<br />

have a high standard to meet, namely the<br />

GDPR; they run into trouble when they<br />

employ the services of companies that don't<br />

comply. European enterprises need to divert<br />

the risks that suppliers can cause for them and<br />

require their compliance with any applicable<br />

EU data protection laws. Eventually, there will<br />

be a new agreement increasing the pressure<br />

on the US to change priority, but until then<br />

businesses must ensure their compliance with<br />

How has Cryptshare reacted to this?<br />

MF: Enterprises must comply the way they<br />

needed to before. For European companies<br />

operating in Europe, we already have a high<br />

standard, which we help companies to meet.<br />

Data is one of today's most valuable assets;<br />

entire business models are built on it.<br />

Therefore, it greatly matters where this data<br />

goes and what happens to it, once it is there.<br />

Enterprises need a product like Cryptshare to<br />

protect their data in transit, and make sure it<br />

remains safe between senders and its<br />

intended recipient, not falling victim to<br />

predators that include data-driven businesses,<br />

bad actors and governments both legitimate<br />

and malign. That is the essence of the ECJ<br />

ruling.<br />

Where can transatlantic data privacy<br />

agreements go from here?<br />

MF: Action is required from all parties;<br />

politicians must draft a new agreement<br />

between the EU and the USA that constitutes<br />

a sustainable and resilient basis for all future<br />

data transfers to the USA, and this must be<br />

done quickly. In order to stand up to the<br />

scrutiny of the ECJ, any agreement must<br />

ultimately meet the data protection<br />

requirements that EU standards demand.<br />

In the United States, other factors are clearly<br />

given priority, namely their economic interests<br />

and their intelligence agencies' wide-reaching<br />

powers to access personal data, regardless of<br />

its origin or location. They have so far shown<br />

little willingness to make concessions to<br />

European data protection laws, should they<br />

come at the expense of their national<br />

interests. It currently seems that it will be up<br />

to Europe to make its own demands for data<br />

protection and data privacy a reality, as the US<br />

seems unwilling to concede ground.<br />

To find out how enterprises can exchange<br />

sensitive messages and files in a secure,<br />

traceable and compliant way, go to:<br />

https://bit.ly/3mU8is1<br />

www.computingsecurity.co.uk @<strong>CS</strong>MagAndAwards <strong>Nov</strong>/<strong>Dec</strong> <strong>2020</strong> computing security<br />

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