Privacy technology: What’s next?

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Costly data breaches. Ongoing security issues. Personalization of online services. Intrusive advertising tactics. Sharing of consumer data. Consumers are raising red flags about how today’s businesses are using and protecting their personal data and their concerns are rapidly driving the issue of consumer data privacy up the boardroom agenda.

Consumers are not just concerned about data protection — they want greater control of access to their personal data and how it is ultimately used by businesses. Regulators are also paying close attention and continue to enact stringent laws aimed at ‘bad’ data gathering and sharing practices.

At the same time, ongoing consumer trends — from ubiquitous smartphones and social media channels to the massive shift to online shopping, personalized customer experiences and more — are driving an explosion of consumer data. Fast-emerging technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence, meanwhile, are poised to dramatically heighten both connectivity and the endless data wave — along with the complexity of data security and privacy protection.

Data-privacy technology will need to mature quickly to effectively manage today’s endlessly expanding data universe. In this report, we examine where data-privacy technology and management are going — and needs to go — to effectively respond to a complex and fast-evolving environment.