The need to maintain social distancing during the startup has confirmed the value of smart and remote working, so that a vast amount of corporate data is now circulating outside the networks it was previously confined to.

“Agile work”, extended to an ever greater number of users, is forcing a re-organisation of companies and their employees which is definitely full of potential, but is also creating an urgent need to protect data, which has been more widely distributed by the normalisation of working from home, and is hence more prone to cyber violation.

From control of employees to the protection of intellectual assets, data management and protection systems are now critical to the security of industry. Cyber security companies and professionals are now called to play a leading role in the changes currently taking place and to act as guarantors of new ways of working, also in the light of future prospects.

At the same time, contact tracing - another necessity made urgent by the pandemic - is emerging as a huge challenge for data management and privacy protection. Tracking individuals to prevent chains of contagion and monitoring the movements of high risk subjects will be critical to preventing a rebound, but are themselves subject to a whole series of problematic issues, especially as regards GDPR.

While in the context of business data management and the monitoring of staff have long been subject to standards and conventions, the tracking of individual subjects is highly contentious.

The harmonisation of technological developments in tracking, national legislations, individual awareness and responsibility, limits of application and the protection of individual rights are the centre of a lively debate.

In this case too, big data experts, along with privacy professionals, will play a major role in defining the boundaries between technological opportunities and the protection of confidential data, both now and with a view to the future.

SICUREZZA is committed to following emerging developments and offers all cyber security professionals exhibition space and opportunities for discussion with a view to contributing to the development of new scenarios in this profoundly changed world. The competency of professionals is a value capable of reinforcing respect for the rights of the individual and the role of technology in protecting them, from every point of view.