Throughout the years, the data of internet users has been coveted by businesses and has become for them a massive economic challenge, but now, it is high time to take back the upper hand. We can do this at the technological level, first looking at the choice of diversity of NAS and the Cloud, and then at the institutional level, via the constitution of a French and European think tank around the issues of privacy.
Yes, throughout the years, web giants have saved and analyzed your digital life without your informed knowledge. These questionable practices are often just as scandalous as the companies who prove to be incapable of protecting our personal data. Regarding pirating, the concerns are endless as we have seen of late with the pirating of 87 million Facebook accounts by Cambridge Analytica. 25 years after the arrival of the internet, lack of confidence by the internet user has never been so great.
Also conscientious of the importance of data protection, Europe, in 2016, adopted a regulation of and increased the protection of the confidentiality of personal data that entered into effect in France on May 25, 2018. But will the new guidelines be sufficient? Can we go further with technology when it assures our optimal protection?
Uniting NAS and the Cloud for maximum data protection
Today, hardware and software technology allows us to keep our hand on our personal data by storing them at home or at the office, all offering a user’s experience comparable to that of GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft).
At the hardware level, the connected hard drives (NAS) propose a very efficient setup at a price completely affordable for the grand public or small businesses. At the application level, these technologies try to respond perfectly to the demands of speed and user comfort, all while guaranteeing a high level of security.
Furthermore, the Cloud and the utilization of the internet remains an important link in the implementation of a real strategy to secure data for the following reasons. First, thanks to the mechanisms of data duplication in storage silos it allows for the acquisition and the durability of the data in the long term.
Next, due to the relay of information systems, securing the entrance and exchange of data is now done a different way, as a result of using the VPN or secure mechanisms for the authentication of users and connected objects.
A good security and protection strategy for personal data will therefore rely on an alliance between these two worlds: NAS on one side for localized and secure storage, allied on the other side with the strength of the Cloud for the traveling access and the geographical overlap.
A European Think Tank to think beyond the GDPR
If the GDPR regulates the management and the utilization of personal data more extremely, it would still be desirable to form a “think tank” at a European and French level, to regroup the startups, the small-businesses, the major accounts, the partnerships, the influential people, and the public body, around the issue of privacy. This way France can establish itself on the international stage to address the protection and confidentiality of personal data.
