The Privacy and Cybersecurity Challenge for Startups

The privacy and cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving, and it can require significant resources for companies to keep pace with both threats and compliance obligations. This is especially challenging for startups. Numerous laws, including federal and state consumer protection laws, apply to virtually all companies, but in addition there are state data breach notification laws, and in certain industries additional laws and regulations, such as HIPAA for healthcare and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) for the financial industry.

Startups need to develop a comprehensive program that includes administrative, physical and technical safeguards. These should include an extensive list of safeguards and procedures, including asset management, training, vendor and data management, incident reporting, incident response, event tracking, anti-virus and anti-malware protection, removable media protection and restriction, penetration testing and preparation for disaster recovery.

Startups are in a unique position regarding awareness and training. Because they generally have a small number of employees or independent contractors, it’s easier for them to conduct training and keep their teams up to date with current privacy and cybersecurity issues. By incorporating awareness and training in the early stages of a company, a startup can build awareness into its culture, and as the company grows that can be a competitive advantage. A startup may also be able to follow “privacy by design” and “security by design” principles from the very beginning as it develops products or services, and that too can give it a competitive advantage.