Data protection - taking the 'It will happen to us' approach

RECENT events have driven home the importance of data protection, especially of personal data. For example, in early 2018, it emerged that consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had misappropriated the personal data of millions of Facebook users without their consent. The information was then manipulated for political campaigning, with the intention to influence election outcomes.

This was a wake-up moment for the world.

"Data breach", previously confined to accidental loss of personal data, suddenly raised the spectre of intentional fraud and exploitation on an unprecedented global scale.