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The UAE has outlined a strategy to make Dubai the digital economy capital of the world. What role will data compliance play as part of this process?
The UAE has indeed been leading the region in terms of digital transformation, and as our recent International Cloud Survey report shows, organizations here are making strides in transitioning to the cloud – so much so that the UAE is now the second largest adopter or global public cloud services. However, a key area that organizations need to consider as they embark on their cloud journey is compliance, which is sometimes an afterthought.
Today, as the pandemic accelerates data generation, the volume of data streams has grown significantly. In order to take advantage of the massive amounts of data that go hand-in-hand with digitization, it is important to have a data compliance strategy in place. The first is the ability to visualize, secure and manage this data while weeding out any irrelevant or unimportant data. To succeed in a nationwide digital strategy, consumers need to be confident that their data is protected as they move to more cloud services, and that there is real governance for all their private data. Think in terms of providing a frictionless experience for consumers in terms of usability as well as data protection and compliance.
Having a strong data compliance regime that addresses these strategic priorities is important, not least because this is at the heart of gaining consumer trust. UAE laws on data protection and privacy emphasize the importance of protecting customers’ rights, and the Personal Data Protection Law (DPL) of 2021 also sets a comprehensive framework for ensuring confidentiality and protecting individual privacy. Compliance will be achieved and digitalization accelerated as organizations adopt solutions and standards that meet framework and DPL requirements.
What is the biggest threat to an enterprise’s digital infrastructure posed by the increased digitization of business operations?
Digital infrastructure and increased digitization bring many advantages to businesses such as less infrastructure to manage, easier usage, faster and more efficient use of provided services, etc. However, it does present challenges, such as increased cyber threats and compliance and regulatory issues. A major challenge is that many organizations have poor visibility into their data. As our recent research shows, more than half (53%) of UAE organizations do not have full visibility into their data. You can’t protect data you can’t see, which is as much a data protection issue as it is a data compliance issue.
Adopting a multi-cloud provider strategy further impacts an opaque understanding of where data is stored. An average UAE business currently uses three different public cloud providers for their storage needs. This is undermining data protection and making it difficult to meet compliance regulations.
To meet this challenge, organizations must secure their data, know where all of their data resides, and understand the context of the data. In a multi-cloud and hybrid world, organizations must also have the tools to do this. When we talk about digitization, it doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a phased approach where bad actors try to take advantage of the situation.
Organizations are most vulnerable when they are migrating data, new to cloud solutions, in a hybrid environment, and using multiple solutions. When organizations have a clear data compliance policy, fully understand their data, and use the right solutions, they can protect their data and that of their customers from such threats.
As we continue to adopt this fully digital way of working, which industry do you think will be most impacted by increased compliance?
Of course, every industry must keep up and follow compliance standards, because improving compliance is not a challenge, but an opportunity to unlock the value of data. However, if we dig deeper, three industries stand out in particular: one is finance, given the high sensitivity of the industry and the regulations it must comply with, and the required time periods for storing a specific set of data for a specific purpose.
Healthcare is another industry that requires a strong compliance framework, given the sensitivity of patient information. Hospitals and care providers must ensure they comply with appropriate regulations and take steps to protect vital patient data. A third sector where data compliance is critical given the sensitivity of its work is energy. We need only look at the recent example of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and its impact to understand the potential impact of not adequately protecting data.
What are your top three pieces of advice for businesses as they start planning for compliance readiness?
The first task is to understand all data flows, visualize them and develop processes to manage and protect the data, usually in archive or protected preservation storage. They must develop processes and procedures that instruct employees to use a reliable data platform to guard against any breaches. Second, the data stored must be classified, governed, and follow a framework that can make data management seamless and not cumbersome. Finally, a simple but often overlooked step in the planning process is employee training and preparation. Ensuring that all employees across the enterprise are equipped to adapt to updated and secure ways of working must be a top priority for all C-suite and IT leaders.
How do you think these changes around security management and compliance will affect government agencies?
The UAE is focused on making Dubai the digital economy capital of the world. Underpinned by the UAE Digital Economy Strategy, which was launched in April 2022, it aims to double the contribution of the digital economy to the UAE’s GDP by 2031 from 9.7% in 2022 to 19.4%. The UAE’s digitization initiative is already well underway, and the government has successfully implemented important milestones, including Dubai becoming the first paperless government.
Given that many government agencies hold vast amounts of personal information, stricter compliance standards will help protect their data and allow them to conduct business more efficiently. As mentioned earlier, the strategic focus must be on ensuring data visibility and efficient data management. The UAE government is working with several leading IT solutions providers to take the right steps to ensure that the journey towards digital government and digital economy is organized through the most secure, compliant and reliable platform. We will see more partnerships formed between these institutions and IT providers, as the right provider’s reach, knowledge and capabilities will help ensure the right solutions and processes are in place to support digitalization in the UAE Target.
When it comes to suppliers and customers using your software, do you think businesses also need to conduct a digital security compliance check before selecting an external partner?
It cannot be denied that conducting digital security compliance checks on external partners is critical, especially since enterprises use multiple clouds. IT decision makers must learn how to build a unified data protection strategy across multiple clouds. Having a framework that facilitates continuous backup, pursuing a zero trust policy, multi-factor authentication, and role-based access control is critical to ensuring digital security. Organizations must also have complete endpoint visibility and implement immutable storage, automated recovery processes, and regular recovery testing.
Over the past few months and years, we have seen an increase in ransomware attacks both regionally and globally. What two things do you recommend businesses do to protect their organizations from potential attacks?
As our international cloud research shows, companies that rely more on on-premises security tools are hit harder by ransomware than organizations that rely less on on-premises security tools and more on purpose-built solutions. More than half of UAE respondents (52%) who only use their cloud provider’s security tools said they faced ransomware attacks and 40% of organizations lost data as a result of relying on such cloud security backups.
Continuously improving the level of expertise to implement best practices is critical to defending against potential attacks and reducing risk. Organizations must work with trusted partners who have the right expertise. A data compliance strategy with greater visibility into corporate and customer data must be at the heart of any organization’s digital strategy. Second, every employee is responsible for contributing to the success of the data protection strategy, and there must be clear guidance and training on the types of data that can be shared across various communication tools.
Sam Elbeck is the Global Head of Digital Compliance at Veritas Technologies
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