MARKET REPORT Data Security
“Perhaps the most important lesson that the business community has learned through its efforts to
comply with GDPR, is to view unnecessary sensitive data as a liability.”
Vincent Disneur, Head of Sales and Marketing for Union Street Technologies
up to date and investing in
new technologies, for others it
gave them the chance to really
consider how they can use
the data they are legitimately
collecting to help run their
businesses more eff ectively and
better serve their clients.
Transcribed call data can
help support organisations in
meeting GDPR regulations with
the ability to export records,
including all metadata, to a
CRM platform of choice creating
a single customer view. Th e
ability to link communication
data captured from diff erent
sources to an individual is crucial
should consent be withdrawn at
any point. It also increases the
number of calls audited to check
that processes are being followed,
for example, consent is being
obtained. However transcribed
conversations also provide a
consolidated data set that can
be leveraged to provide highly
valuable business intelligence
within analytics and AI tools.”
Fast Facts:
February 2019: It has been
revealed that there have been
59,000 data breaches reported
across Europe since GDPR was
enforced last May. Out of these
59,000 reported breaches, 10,600
were from the UK. Th e report
also revealed that only 91 fi nes
have been issued so far.
Vincent Disneur, Head of
Sales and Marketing for Union
Street Technologies, says that
GDPR has certainly woken the
business community up to the
importance of data security.
“In August 2018, the ICO
released its annual report which
showed a massive jump in
voluntarily reported breaches
from 2,565 in 2016-17 to 3,311
in 2017-18. Th is 29 percent
increase can likely be attributed
to a growing awareness of what
constitutes a breach.
At Union Street we’ve
certainly noticed a huge increase
in the number of requests for
information on our ISMS and,
post GDPR, we’re frequently
asked for information on how
we process customer data. We’ve
also noticed that communication
providers (CPs) of all shapes and
sizes now seem to have dedicated
information security personnel,
whereas before that was a rarity
outside of the very largest CPs.
Ultimately, increased
awareness can only be a good
thing. Perhaps the most
important lesson that the business
MSP VIEWPOINT
Asked whether it is now a case of ‘when’ not ‘if’ when it comes to
security breaches, Jason Humphreys, Senior VP Managed Services
at Farnborough-based MSSP, Foresite, which sells exclusively via the
channel, says this has arguably been the case for some time.
“Whereas before though many companies were largely unaware
their IP or fi nances were being siphoned from their business, the
sophistication of our protection today, along with the more widespread
adoption of security products and services, gives us much better
incites as to what is happening across our business and endpoints.
That said, there are still many companies that are not even doing the
basics right, and for those that are, the bad guys are smart, and are
continually evolving their threat vectors.”
community has
learned through its
eff orts to comply with
GDPR, is to view
unnecessary sensitive
data as a liability. Any
potentially sensitive
data that is held
must be identifi ed,
continually reviewed
and, if it’s not
absolutely required,
it should not be
stored.”
What are the main
sales opportunities
and top channel
tips for monetising data
protection solutions?
“We are here to solve our
customers’ security challenges,
so often thrown up by digital
transformation projects, or
indeed by ensuring compliance
with GDPR,” says Duncan
Brown at Forcepoint.
“Channel teams can take
customers and prospects through
three simple steps to identify
security risks, reach common
ground amongst employees and
accelerate their journey towards
a more comprehensive data
protection programme:
Identify where personal data
resides and map data fl ows –
Most organisations are not sure
exactly where their data resides
at any given point in time. As
data moves beyond the walls of
a perimeter, it tends to “hide”
in sanctioned or unsanctioned
devices and apps. Data loss
prevention (DLP) technology can
be used to gather information
about data, including what the
user is attributed to, the data
type, where it lives, when it was
accessed, and its permissions.
Combining cloud access security
broker (CASB) technology with
DLP helps to identify personally
identifi able information (PII) as it
Ian Kilpatrick, Strategic Advisor for
Cybersecurity at Nuvias
moves through the cloud.”
Mark Curtis-Wood, Head of
Network Services, Nimans, says
this is a hot topic therefore this
creates a fantastic opportunity.
“However, measuring and
communicating cyber risk can be
diffi cult as the threat is constantly
changing. Rather than focus on
fear and uncertainty it requires
a shift in thinking focusing
on cyber security’s strategic
importance to the health and
prosperity of a company’s digital
transformation strategy. Th e right
cyber security investment can
improve a company’s bottom line
by minimising business impacts
and uncovering related business
capabilities .”
Ian Dutton, Security Pre-sales
Manager at Westcon UK&I,
points out that you can’t protect
data without security.
“Partners focused on reducing
overall complexity, and cost,
of operation of a customer’s
security posture will be of greater
value. So, whilst dedicated DLP
solutions exist, they must be
seen in context of an overall
security strategy. Th is presents
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48 | Comms Business Magazine | March 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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