In May 2018, a European privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), takes effect, imposing new rules on how companies, government agencies, non-profits and other organisations collect and analyse data tied to EU residents. Jonathan Vella, Tech Solutions Professional at Microsoft Malta, speaks to The Sunday Times of Malta about how companies can accelerate their GDPR compliance through Microsoft Cloud.
Jonathan Vella: “Microsoft has extensive expertise in protecting data, championing privacy, and complying with complex regulations.”What was the scope behind Microsoft’s recent Enterprise Mobility and Security Technical Boot Camp?
The week-long Enterprise Mobility and Security Technical Boot Camp was attended by over 50 partners and customers. During the event we showed how today’s challenge is not just about how to become a successful business but how to become a successful digital business.
Nowadays, it is no longer about procuring and deploying one simple software solution. Companies need to start thinking and operating like digital companies and thinking of themselves and of their future as digital companies.
Microsoft looks at digital transformation as a profound and accelerating transformation of business activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of digital technologies and their impact across society in a strategic and prioritised way, with present and future shifts in mind.
The event was hosted at the Microsoft Innovation Centre to help our business partners and customers understand and experience how they can accelerate their digital transformation with more freedom and peace of mind.
Who attended the event and what was the main focus?
The profile of companies attending the event was a very wide and varied one and included professionals from the education, government, finance, banking, gaming, audit, IT and services sectors. The event focused on three key pillars: a holistic identity-driven protection to help guard companies’ data from attacks on multiple levels using innovative, identity-driven security techniques; productivity without compromise to preserve the mobile and desktop experiences that workers need in order to keep working with familiar apps; and tools and comprehensive solutions on how to do more with less. Here we showed them how to protect users, devices, apps and data with intuitive mobile management on a future-ready platform.
Microsoft’s cloud computing operations are under attack, and currently we are detecting a whopping 1.5 million attempts a day to compromise our systems
How was this event different from previous events on similar topics?
This event showed us that Malta’s business environment is already receptive to the radical digital revolutions that they will eventually have to acknowledge and adapt to. One of the main reasons for this positive turnout was the issue of GDPR, the EU’s new law for data protection. This new European privacy law due to take effect in May 2018, imposes new rules on companies, government agencies, non-profits, and other organisations that offer goods and services to people in the EU, or that collect and analyse data tied to EU residents.
The GDPR applies no matter where you are located. Microsoft has extensive expertise in protecting data, championing privacy and complying with complex regulations. We believe that the GDPR is an important step forward for clarifying and enabling individual privacy rights. We want to help businesses and organisations focus on their core operations while efficiently preparing for the GDPR.
In what ways will Microsoft be tangibly offering such assistance?
Microsoft is committing to GDPR compliance across all its cloud services when enforcement begins on May 25, 2018, and will provide GDPR-related assurances through its contractual commitments. At Microsoft, in fact, we have committed both to being GDPR compliant as well as providing guidance on how organisations can use our technologies during their respective GDPR journey.
With EMS, Microsoft can support customers and partners in this journey to EU GDPR compliance step-by-step by addressing key scenarios. These include how to provide persistent data protection on-premises and in the cloud, how to grant and restrict access to data, how to protect data in mobile devices and applications, how to gain visibility and control of data in cloud apps and how to detect data breaches before they cause further damage.
Does all this take into consideration the growing issue of cyber threats?
Definitely. At any point in time on any day of the week, Microsoft’s cloud computing operations are under attack, and currently we are detecting a whopping 1.5 million attempts a day to compromise our systems. Real cyber threat intelligence requires more data than most organisations can acquire. But customers can rely on an unparalleled body of threat intelligence created from the vast sources Microsoft analyses – over 450 billion authentications processed per month, 400 billion e-mails scanned for malware and phishing, and one billion Windows devices updated.
Customers get strengthened security in the Microsoft products their organisation uses, as well as the ability to detect threats earlier and respond faster with security analytics that identify suspicious patterns through machine learning and human intelligence.