Time to get tough on keeping data safe

The world’s biggest hotel company, Marriot International Inc. is the latest victim to one in a long line of personal data breaches and, with 500 million guests at risk, this has a significant impact.

Big companies are not alone when it comes to unauthorized access to data. It can also happen to small companies and, as is often the case, they don’t necessarily know they have been hacked or suffered any data loss.

Cybercrime is on the rise and it is timely that the Minister for Home Affairs in Jersey recently lodged the draft Cybercrime Law for debate in January 2019. This law will bring amendments to other laws including the Computer Misuse Law in a bid to make Jersey more complaint with international treaties.

Updated legislation will enable authorities to better handle sophisticated crime and provide better access to data during investigations. Last month the UK parliament seized internal Facebook documents investigating the Cambridge Analytica scandal which suggests that we, as individuals, have rights and that modern laws are needed to tackle matters of privacy and cybercrime.

Keeping data safe is a serious issue and, at Chamber, we want all our members to make sure they are aware of the topic. Visit oicjersey for free information and guidance.

Ronnie Isherwood