The Evolving Landscape Of Data Privacy: Key Trends To Shape 2025

Business Security

Incoming laws, mixed pinch broader developments connected nan threat landscape, will create further complexity and urgency for information and compliance teams

23 Jan 2025  •  , 5 min. read

As Data Privacy Week (January 27-31) and Data Protection Day (January 28) approach, it's nan cleanable clip to spotlight nan captious domiciled information protection plays successful nan occurrence of modern organizations.

In fact, privateness and information protection spell hand-in-hand pinch cybersecurity. Important laws for illustration nan GDPR accent not only nan request to uphold nan privateness authorities of your customers, but besides to protect their astir delicate individual accusation (PII) done state-of-the-art technologies for illustration encryption. Campaigns for illustration Data Privacy Week are much than conscionable yearly events – they should beryllium thought arsenic calls to action to prioritize nan information and privateness of information successful an ever-evolving integer landscape.

The past 12 months person been a momentous clip for world privacy, acknowledgment to caller laws, important ineligible rulings and emerging exertion and threat trends. It’s clip to get fresh for much of nan aforesaid successful 2025.

What happened successful 2024?

Over nan past twelvemonth we’ve witnessed:

Some eye-watering fines and settlements

These include:

• a €310m ($318m) GDPR good for LinkedIn for failing to petition general consent from users to process third-party data,
• a €294m ($332m) GDPR good for Uber for failing to adequately safeguard driver information stored successful nan US,
• a €91m ($93m) GDPR good for Meta for storing users’ passwords successful plaintext,
• a $1.4bn settlement betwixt Meta and nan authorities of Texas for unlawful seizure and usage of citizens’ biometric data.

Major tribunal rulings

Significant decisions from nan Court of Justice of nan European Union (CJEU) will person awesome implications for organizations operating successful nan bloc. These included:

• the Lindenpotheke case, wherever nan CJEU ruled that businesses tin writer rivals complete GDPR violations nether unfair title laws. The aforesaid ruling expanded nan meaning of wellness data.
• C-621/22, successful which nan CJEU clarified “legitimate interests” arsenic a lawful ground for processing individual data, arsenic agelong arsenic organizations travel strict privateness measures.

More cybersecurity-related laws

Among those passed aliases precocious successful 2024 were:

• NIS2, which brings much organizations into scope and requires they instrumentality strict cybersecurity controls,
• the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), which mandates a rigorous group of information requirements for hardware and package sold successful nan region,
• the Cyber Solidarity Act (CSA), which is designed to thief personnel states amended detect, hole for, and respond to large-scale cybersecurity threats.

Global AI governance efforts

These included:

• the EU AI Act
• more signatories (including nan UK, EU and US) to nan Council of Europe Framework Convention connected AI
• the Chinese AI Safety Governance Framework

What tin you expect for 2025?

The effect of galore of these events will beryllium felt passim 2025 and beyond, while incoming laws and longer-term threat scenery trends will create further complexity and urgency for information and compliance teams. Be prepared for:

More information protection laws

These see Canada’s C-27 Bill, nan UK’s Data (Use and Access) Bill and nary less than 8 state-level privateness laws, successful Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee, Minnesota and Maryland. These will cumulatively thief to build consciousness of and enshrine privateness authorities into law, arsenic good arsenic unfastened nan doorway to regulatory enforcement. The extremity consequence will astir apt beryllium to summation nan unit connected compliance teams and business leaders to heighten information protection measures.

More enforcement

We tin besides expect to spot regulators statesman to flex their muscles arsenic laws passed successful 2024 commencement to deed location and various requirements travel into force. For example, nan EU AI Act will see:

• a prohibition connected AI systems posing unacceptable risks (including societal scoring and untargeted facial information scraping) from February 2,
• requirements for general-purpose AI models to travel into unit connected August 2. These will see a instruction for generative AI (GenAI) developers to measure and mitigate systemic risks and archive cybersecurity measures.

More threats and much privateness risk

The past twelvemonth saw publically reported information breaches successful nan US deed grounds highs, pinch complete 353 cardinal extremity users exposed to personality fraud arsenic a result. As AI tools, stolen credentials and service-based offerings proceed to proliferate connected nan cybercrime underground, expect a deluge of comparatively blase cyberattacks which whitethorn drawback retired unprepared information teams. GenAI successful peculiar will heighten nan value of societal engineering campaigns and reconnaissance of susceptible and exposed IT assets.

Organizations which neglect to amended their information posture successful statement pinch champion practices consequence inviting nan scrutiny of world privateness regulators.

Threat actors weaponizing caller laws

Just arsenic they did pursuing nan preamble of nan GDPR, cybercriminals could usage nan threat of regulatory action to unit victims to salary up successful extortion attacks. NIS2 fines could scope €10m aliases 2% of world yearly revenue, for example. It’s besides imaginable that if nan caller rule helps thrust improvements among regulated organizations, threat actors will move their attraction to organizations not taxable to nan directive, specified arsenic smaller firms.

AI creating privateness compliance challenges

AI systems must beryllium trained connected immense volumes of data. Sometimes this information is scraped from nan web, and sometimes it comes from existing customer accounts. This creates imaginable privateness challenges if consent has not been intelligibly obtained (as LinkedIn recovered out successful nan UK). Opaque AI systems whitethorn besides make it harder for organizations to region aliases correct individual accusation erstwhile asked to by users. Several US states are already planning AI laws, pursuing nan lead of Colorado.

What to do next

Against this backdrop, 2025 could beryllium a captious twelvemonth for information and compliance teams. Be judge to enactment up of nan crippled by:

• Keeping abreast of applicable regulatory and legislative changes and understanding nan compliance requirements that use to your organization
• Enhancing information information successful statement pinch manufacture champion practices
• Ensuring firm information owners are intelligibly identified and creating a robust reporting strategy that identifies nan roles and responsibilities of everyone involved
• Performing information protection effect assessments (DPIAs) earlier introducing immoderate caller merchandise aliases work (e.g., a caller AI tool), arsenic good arsenic putting successful spot due safeguards based connected nan DPIA
• Monitor performance, reappraisal information protocols, and reside areas that require attention

Data protection tin often look for illustration a burden. But successful fact, it should framed arsenic an opportunity. It offers your statement nan chance to heighten customer loyalty and trust, not to mention mitigate nan consequence of financially and reputationally damaging breaches. View 2025 done this lens, and nan adjacent 12 months could unfastened nan doorway to caller business possibilities.