How Remote Work Has Changed the Job of a Data Protection Officer

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15.04.2021
Byron Shirley
Byron Shirley
Byron Shirley, co-founder of The Compliance Space, looks at how the role of the data protection officer (DPO) has changed over the past 12 months for ComputerWeekly .

It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since the majority of the workforce was sent to work from home indefinitely. Home spaces have become workspaces, and for many, remote working will continue for the foreseeable future. Recently, we have seen a number of companies announce a shift to a hybrid model, deciding to permanently combine office and home working.

While the use of digital tools is now the norm, for DPOs, the shift to off-site work has brought its own compliance challenges and security headaches.

For example, how do you control data usage and azerbaijan whatsapp data its security when your employees are potentially using different networks, devices, and a variety of digital tools, from video conferencing to file sharing? And, importantly, how do you ensure that employees are fulfilling the important role they play in successfully meeting data protection obligations when you are located in different physical work environments?

70% of respondents to IBM’s 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report believe that remote work will increase the cost of data breaches. The main reason for this is that it takes longer to identify and then respond to a security incident if you are not on-site.

Similarly, a 2020 Malwarebytes survey of 200 IT and cybersecurity professionals found that remote workers are responsible for security breaches at 20% of organizations. Notably, 18% of respondents said cybersecurity is not a priority, and 5% went further — admitting that their employees “don’t pay attention” to their company’s security procedures.