Schaumburg, Ill. (Jan. 26, 2022) - Ahead of Data Privacy Day on January 28, new research from ISACA explores the latest trends in enterprise privacy—from privacy workforce and privacy by design to privacy challenges and the future of privacy—in its new Privacy in Practice 2022 survey report, sponsored by OneTrust.
The report, which examines responses from the global ISACA State of Privacy survey conducted in the third quarter of 2021, highlights the persistent understaffing that is impacting enterprise privacy teams. Respondents indicate that both legal/compliance (46 percent of respondents) and technical privacy roles (55 percent of respondents) at enterprises are understaffed, and the issue has only worsened since last year. Forty-one percent also report that the biggest challenge in forming a privacy program is a lack of competent resources.
However, just 25 percent note they have open privacy legal/compliance roles, and 31 percent indicate they have open technical privacy roles. Respondents also largely expect that privacy professionals will only become more in-demand, with 63 percent anticipating increased demand for legal/compliance roles and 72 percent expecting more demand for technical privacy roles.
In seeking professionals to fill these roles, respondents indicate they are looking for three key things: compliance/legal experience (62 percent), prior hands-on experience in a privacy role (56 percent) and technical experience (48 percent). A university degree is not necessarily a prerequisite—29 percent of respondents say that it is not an important factor when evaluating a candidate. However, respondents indicate that candidates do not always have the skills required for these roles, citing these common skills gaps:
"People are an essential component of any privacy program, both the privacy professionals driving the work forward and employees across the enterprise who follow good data privacy practices," says Safia Kazi, ISACA Privacy Professional Practice Advisor. "Enterprises need to sufficiently invest in their privacy programs and teams, not only to retain privacy staff and upskill talent to fill open roles, but to also prioritize privacy training efforts to ensure all employees are supporting privacy initiatives."
Despite issues with staffing and skills gaps, 41 percent of respondents report they are very confident or completely confident in the ability of their privacy team to ensure data privacy and achieve compliance with new privacy laws and regulations. One in 10 respondents' enterprises have experienced a material privacy breach in the last 12 months, consistent with last year's results.
When exploring the main types of privacy failures that enterprises experience, survey respondents point to these as the most common:
When it comes to privacy training at enterprises, most (71 percent) respondents perceive privacy training to have a positive impact. However, the survey finds that many may approach it as a "check the box" exercise, with nearly 70 percent indicating that they evaluate the success of a privacy training program by looking at the number of employees who complete the training rather than measuring the efficacy of the training.
To further protect themselves, many enterprises implement additional privacy controls in addition to what they are legally required to do, including encryption (76 percent), identity and access management (74 percent) and data security (71 percent).
"Privacy professionals are vital in driving transparency and accountability across their organizations, and that has never been more important, as more consumers, employees and investors dictate the success of organizations that they do, or don't, trust," notes Alex Bermudez, OneTrust Privacy Manager. "The role of the privacy professional continues to evolve, with many now taking their organizations on a journey from compliance to building trust as a competitive advantage: helping to make companies stand out based on the values they hold and the commitments they fulfil. Continuing to monitor the changes in resources, board-level sponsorship, and the positive trajectory of privacy at-large form an important part of a privacy professional's value, and impact on an organization"
The survey report will be discussed in depth in the free webinar, "The State of Privacy: 2022," on 27 January at 12:00 p.m. EST. Register for the event—which offers one free CPE credit for ISACA certifications—at https://store.isaca.org/s/community-event?id=a334w000004cmroAAA. Afterwards, the webinar will also be available to access online for free for an additional year.
A complimentary copy of the Privacy in Practice 2022 survey report and additional privacy resources and articles can be accessed at www.isaca.org/dataprivacy. Additional information on ISACA's privacy resources, including the Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer™ (CDPSE™) certification, is available at www.isaca.org/cdpse. ISACA also hosts a Privacy group in its Engage online forums to discuss the topic and share best practices.
About ISACA
For more than 50 years, ISACA® (www.isaca.org) has advanced the best talent, expertise and learning in technology. ISACA equips individuals with knowledge, credentials, education and community to progress their careers and transform their organizations, and enables enterprises to train and build quality teams. ISACA is a global professional association and learning organization that leverages the expertise of its more than 150,000 members who work in information security, governance, assurance, risk and privacy to drive innovation through technology. It has a presence in 188 countries, including more than 220 chapters worldwide. In 2020, ISACA launched One In Tech, a philanthropic foundation that supports IT education and career pathways for under-resourced, under-represented populations.
