Data Privacy in the Public Cloud

In a way, the challenges related to data privacy in the public cloud is like an exponential of an exponential.

Use of private data is growing exponentially. The proportion of that data held in the public cloud is expected to double between 2018 and 2025. There has been an explosion in activity from data privacy regulators, increasing the cost of leaving data unprotected.

GDPR became enforceable in 2018, spawning a wave of additional privacy regulations. Since then, privacy regulations have been passed all over the world, including in California, with other states across the US following, Brazil, China, and South Korea.  Many other privacy regulations are likely to be passed into law over the next few years.

It is this combination of accelerating use of data, accelerating use of the public cloud to hold that data, and growing regulatory complexity that is creating such challenges for organisations.

Yet the imperative to meet these challenges is greater than ever – data breaches are expensive, averaging $8.19 million in the US. Penalties for violation of data privacy regulations have been as high as $230 million.