The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced that it will be giving business leaders a chance to gauge its position over the new half a million pound fines that it can now enforce in the event of serious data loss, at a conference next week.
David Smith, who acts as deputy commissioner at the ICO, is set to speak at the InfoSecurity Europe expo when it opens in London at the end of April.
Mr Smith is expected to talk about the different ways in which the ICO might use the new legislation, which grants it the ability to level fines that are now 100 times higher than the previous maximum. Infosecurity says that those present at the event will be able to make their own assessments as to the ICO’s intentions in the future and should be able to measure the impact of data loss from a regulatory point of view.
The ICO saw its much-publicised Civil Monetary Penalties increased after a decision was made in November to deter public and private organisations from breaching the Data Protection Act. These powers came into force at the beginning of April and this will be the first major event at which business managers will be able to see for themselves how the ICO is responding.
The Infosecurity Europe conference will play host to a number of keynote speakers over the three days, with security experts from some of the world’s largest businesses having their time in the spotlight. Representatives from Barclays and Santander will be giving talks alongside delegates from charitable organisations such as the Salvation Army.
The conference will feature seminars concerning the future of data protection and business continuity, allowing attendees to learn more about the threats that face their systems from day to day.
A data security survey which was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers on its behalf will also be published to coincide with the conference. It will contain information about serious UK data breaches and the nightmare scenarios which ensue. Trends such as cloud computing and the prevention of data loss are also covered by the survey.
Observers have pointed out that the timing of the conference could clash with the current air travel crisis and there has as yet been no word as to whether the event will actually be able to take place on this basis.
