Last year PwC undertook an exhaustive study examining the top policy trends and priorities for business leaders. Needless to say, several issues emerged, but data privacy was most frequently mentioned. Businesses and individuals alike are highly digitalised. We trust servers and clouds with our data, but data breaches, like anything else, do occur. One reaction to data breaches could be to “de-digitalise” and revert back to life in the 1960s. Most of us (businesses included) would balk at such a concept, but data breaches are indeed scary. Yet, you’d be surprised how many businesses do not follow industry-standard security controls. SaaS providers are no different, and with the proper security controls in place, data can indeed be safely stored providing users and customers with much-desired, added comfort.
Security and privacy are highly intertwined when it comes to data protection. For example, ACADS-BSG solutions are hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Governmental agencies, financial services, and healthcare providers entrust highly sensitive information to AWS. The principal reason many SaaS providers like ourselves also opt into AWS is the integration of security and privacy, as opposed to treating them as two separate issues.
To be fair, AWS is not the only provider that links these two concepts into a practical solution. A common analogy when discussing privacy and security in this context is building a car. After manufacturing the engine, you wouldn’t simply bolt it onto the chassis and declare the car ready to run. Security controls are designed to operationalize privacy requirements. Everything from monitoring controls (logging, etc.), data encryption, and access controls are security controls by definition. But they also affect privacy, and as such, need to be constructed together into the architectures of any operating environment.
Data protection and privacy will continue to be a primary concern for all providers. But when addressed methodically and thoughtfully, the safety measures are quite robust and secure.
ACADS-BSG takes the security of our customers incredibly seriously, and we will continue to develop and support building services software with security top of mind.
