Data Privacy Trends & Compliances for 2024

Data privacy has been a fundamental concern of Cybersecurity ever since the internet age began, and data protection requirements continue to grow. Look at how much personal information is traveling through cyberspace. It is not merely a good idea to implement the strongest possible protections – it is a mandate.

Each industry has its own set of regulatory compliances to deal with, be they from HIPAA, PCI, CMMC, FINRA, or any other industry or locality-based privacy rules. In California, all compliances are subject to the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act). According to Gartner, by the end of 2024, 75% of the world’s population will have their personal data protected due to one or more privacy regulations.

Data privacy compliance should be at the top of your mind whether your organization is large or small. It is all part of overall Cybersecurity. Privacy requirements, fines, and penalties for non-compliance hit organizations of all sizes. Smaller businesses are less able to absorb these fines, so they can be devastating.

In Europe, between July 2020 and July 2021, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) violations rose by 113.5%. The number of associated fines also jumped, by 124.92%. When it comes to US HIPAA violations, each incident can carry a penalty between $100 to $25,000.

Data privacy is a priority and should factor prominently into all your data collection processes. When companies collect, send, or store Personally Identifiable Information (PII) it needs protection. Adequate safeguards MUST be in place.

You should keep up with trends in this area to stay on top of your privacy compliance obligations. Next up, we’ve documented the biggest data privacy trends happening in 2024 that you should know about.

What are the compliance challenges in 2024?

AI LLMs

As the competitive advantages become too significant to ignore the number of employees and third parties using generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Large Language Models (LLMs) will massively increase. This will expand the threat surface and potentially sensitive content to be inadvertently or intentionally exposed.

TechRepublic estimates that approximately 40% of privacy compliance technology relies on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to operate. AI has certainly made its way into many of the applications we use on a daily basis. Here at ITFIRM.COM, AI and automation perform many simple tasks.

When text appears as a suggestion in MS Word, that’s AI predicting what you’ll type next. When working on a photograph of a face in Photoshop, you can now click a button and AI will ‘turn a frown upside down.’ How many of us use the ‘fill-in’ words that appear when we’re texting? That’s AI.

It should come as no surprise that AI is running many of the algorithms responsible for keeping data protected. But what happens when there is a problem with the AI?

AI governance is working to address that question. This is a new trend in data privacy because AI has never been as prevalent throughout the data journey as it is now.

AI needs to be governed properly whenever it is used in the data protection area. This helps ensure that automated processes aren’t accidentally exposing sensitive data.

Consumer Privacy UX

A trend over the last year is putting more privacy power into the consumer’s hands. Many privacy regulations require that apps and websites provide data transparency - informing people what data they’re collecting, how they’re collecting it, and what they do with it. People also need an ‘out’ to get their data back.

These needs have led to consumer privacy UX (User Experience) becoming a ‘thing.’ Think of this as a centralized privacy portal where employees can access privacy-related settings in various apps. This gives better visibility into how their data is being used.

Increased Scrutiny of Remote Employee Monitoring

The pandemic has forever changed the logistics of the global workforce, no matter how many people are going back to the office – a lot of employees will not. Many organizations are now running completely remote offices, or a hybrid mix of remote and in-office staff. The dramatic increase in employees who work from home has led to data collection changes. Companies are ramping up monitoring of employees working off-site.

However, this type of monitoring opens a can of worms when it comes to data privacy. Organizations need to ensure that they aren’t encroaching on the rights of their staff. This is most pertinent when putting monitoring in place on employee devices. Employees bristle against ‘Big Brother’ breathing down their necks.

Approximately 49% of employees who work from home use their personal computers for work. Companies often put endpoint device monitoring in place to ensure they are not gathering or backing up any personal data. The company only has a right to company information.

Data Localization

The social app TikTok is banned on all U.S. Federal devices, but the debate in Congress rages on because of the app’s data collection and storage. As a China-based company, Tik-Tok’s collected data was originally stored on servers governed by the Chinese government, and if you think CCP access to Tik-Tok data has stopped, then we have New York City bridge we want to sell you. China has extremely different data privacy rules than the US and other countries, and every business in the China must kowtow to the CCP’s wishes.

Data localization is going to become more prevalent. Organizations are increasingly assessing where their cloud data is being stored. Where a server resides governs the privacy rules and regulations that it may fall under. Thus, companies and governments are now asking a question of cloud providers: “Where is my data stored?” Many want their data to be as close to home as possible – not halfway around the globe.

Privacy-Enhancing Computation (PEC) 

Since the internet first went live, data privacy has always been a concern, but with modern technology it is more complex and crucial than ever. Using privacy-enhancing computation is a way that AI is helping improve Cybersecurity. By using PEC as a built-in component of software and apps, developers provide more value to clients. They address privacy concerns by making data protection more automated.

When shopping for business tools, be sure to look for PEC components in all data analytics.