Data Security in an Age When Data is the New Oil / LS Law

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3rd August 2021

‘Secure web servers are the equivalent of heavy armoured cars. The problem is, they are being used to transfer rolls of coins and cheques written in crayon by people on park benches to merchants doing business in cardboard boxes from beneath highway bridges. Further, the roads are subject to random detours, anyone with a screwdriver can control the traffic lights, and there are no police.’

www.azquotes.com/quote/743367 – Gene Spafford (a.k.a ‘Spaf’) is a Professor of Computer Science at Purdue University and a leading Information Security Expert.

The biggest asset of most businesses operating within the life science field is and has always been its data, but with advancements in technology, the protection of its data has become of even greater importance, as data has become, in the twenty-first century, what oil was to commerce and industry in the eighteenth century – a seemingly infinite and untapped commodity – and as was the case with oil, businesses which can successfully identify the fundamental value that lies in Data (and the benefits that can be gained from mastering how to use, extract and monetise it) will leave their competitors struggling to keep up.

Given the value of an organisations data, it is important that that Data is treated just like it would any other valuable business asset (eg intellectual property rights, cash in the bank, etc.) and put in place suitable security measures to protect that Data.

The fact that Data Security Incidents are on the rise in the UK (and globally for that matter) suggests that businesses have been slow to realise the potential value of their own Data – something that cyber-criminals have been faster to grasp and quick to exploit.

Source: Chapter 16 of Cyber Security: Law & Guidance written by one of our Senior Consultants, Ryan Mackie.

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Data Security in an Age When Data is the New Oil