Data privacy has been and continues to be a crucial topic, and the attention to it has been increasing over the years to bring more awareness. This is especially true with the development of technology and the exchange of huge amount of private and sensitive data over the Internet, which has led to an increase of data privacy compliance across all organisations who manage this data.
The data shared on devices and networks is very unique and valuable, and if it is lost or shared without permission, it is a breach of data privacy which has devastating consequences for organisations, both reputationally and financially.
Applications on mobile phone or computer are among those things that can put personal data privacy at great risk, increasing the chances of identity theft, which has become a common occurrence, especially in the digital age. Organisations are also being targeted much more with phishing attacks, requiring all organisations to be much more diligent on educating their employees to be aware of such risks and to properly identify them.
The more we know about data and its importance, the more we can protect our data privacy from many risks; however more and more pressing questions arise. Shareholders and business owners often ask themselves: Is my organisation compliant with the legislation? When the data breach occurs, what do I do? How can we manage huge amounts of private data and how must we govern it? Do I clearly understand the consequences of non-compliance? Do I understand the legislation? All these questions are valid and must have answers. Recognising the questions to aks and then asking them is the first correct step to compliance.
One company may own the personal information of millions of customers and employees, in addition to confidential business documents and financial records of the organisation and partners. A data breach is not if, it is when. It is up to organisations to make sure the data stays intact, and, in the case of a breach, they have the quick steps of reporting and minimising the damage and implement them in minimal time.
More than half of the Caribbean Islands have adopted the Data Protection Act and are compliant with Data Privacy Legislation. A percentage of the Caribbean countries and territories have not implemented any laws regarding Data Privacy and, in some of them the laws have only been partially taken to force.
BDO’s team of Data Protection advocates operate in the Caribbean to push for stronger protection of individual data rights. The key focus is aligning data protection legislation with international standards. It is critical to facilitate data flows between the Caribbean and its trading partners foster regulatory cooperation in the subregion to harmonise data protection regimes and enable their cross-border enforcement; and create regulatory and policy tools to provide practical guidance for data users and individuals on their rights and obligations.
While not every Caribbean Island is compliant yet, as a region Caribbean has set a strong mentality and set of tools to put them on the route to Data Privacy compliance.