Data privacy is the top concern for CEOs as cyberattacks increase in frequency and sophistication. Companies are responding by investing in cybersecurity teams and collaborating with software development firms abroad to find privacy experts. To maintain data privacy during software development, businesses should follow relevant regulations like GDPR and CCPA, select an appropriate security model, and build multidisciplinary development teams that integrate privacy into all stages of the software development lifecycle.

1. Maintain Data Privacy During
Software Development
Data privacy continues to be one of the most important considerations for global
business executives and customers alike. In fact, research has found that cybersecurity
is the number one external concern for American CEOs in 2019 and 2020.
Many of the world's largest companies are responding to the data privacy crisis by
investing millions of dollars to build internal cybersecurity teams. These same firms are
also collaborating with South American software development firms to source hard-to-
find privacy experts at a time when the demand for these specialists greatly outpaces
supply.
Companies can improve their internal cybersecurity efforts and stay ahead of hackers
by following appropriate data privacy regulations. In addition, it is important to follow
appropriate security models to ensure that development conforms with industry security
standards.
The best businesses will also prioritize cybersecurity by building multidisciplinary
development teams that integrate data privacy concerns into every stage of the
software development lifecycle.
Why is data privacy important?
As mentioned above, data privacy is the number one challenge faced by American
CEOs. The reason for this concern is clear – the number of data breaches continues to
increase in both number and sophistication every year. Research has found that
hackers attempt to break into a new computer every 39 seconds on average.

2. The increase in attacks is taking a financial toll on businesses as well. Studies predict
that the total costs of cyberattacks will cost global businesses more than $6 trillion by
2021.
Individual businesses have even more to worry about. New research has found that a
data breach costs companies an average of $3.86 million in financial damage. That's
from a combination of lost business, a damaged brand, investigations and regulatory
costs. Companies can expect the cost of a successful cyberattack to increase as new
legislation in the U.S. takes effect.
This incredible onslaught of attacks means that businesses must prioritize and update
their information security efforts now. The first step in the process is to become aware of
relevant national and local regulations.
Follow regulations
One of the most consequential trends in cybersecurity is the rise in national and local
regulations detailing how companies must prioritize data privacy.
The most important set of data privacy regulations, by far, is the General Data
Protection Regulations (GDPR) drafted by the European Union. The GDPR was passed
in 2016 and went into effect in Spring 2018.
These regulations protect the data privacy of all citizens in the EU. That means that
every company that does business with citizens of the EU must abide by these
regulations in their interactions, regardless of where the company is located.
The GDPR requires all companies to ask for consent from customers before they
process data. In addition, they are required to collect and store that data anonymously –
and must inform consumers if their data has been potentially compromised in a breach.
Finally, large companies are required to appoint a dedicated data privacy protection
officer who is tasked with overseeing the company's cybersecurity strategy and
responding to customers if a cyberattack is successful.
Unfortunately, the United States federal government has yet to pass comprehensive
data privacy legislation. However, several states have created their own laws dictating
how data must be handled. This includes Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi,
New Mexico and Washington.
The most important of these state bills, however, came from California. Because
California is the most populated state in the U.S., with 40 million residents, state
legislation tends to be adopted by most American companies so they don't exclude the
nation's biggest market.

3. California recently passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which goes
into effect on January 1, 2020. The bill allows customers to demand that companies
disclose information about their personal data.
In addition, the CCPA requires businesses to provide the following data when queried
by a customer. Companies must tell their customers which types of personal information
they possess, the specific data collected within the past twelve months, and allow
customers to request that personal information not be shared with third parties.
Finally, consumers may request that all personal data be deleted – a directive the
businesses must legally follow.
While the different national and local legislations can make data privacy compliance
difficult, it is extremely important to make sure that all relevant regulations are followed
when designing software. That's a major reason why so many large companies are
scrambling to source experienced cybersecurity experts, and are turning to software
outsourcing services in South America and other regions of the world for support.
Select the right security model
Before launching a software development project, it's important to select the right
security model for it. This data privacy strategy will determine whether software meets
industry information security standards and allow companies to release software to the
public with confidence.
Most companies can select whatever model fits best with their development capabilities,
but businesses that store sensitive information – like finance, healthcare and
educational institutes – should select a security-focused model like the Trusted
Software Methodology. Executives who are unsure which security model is best suited
for their project should turn to a trusted consultant for professional support.
Trusted Software Methodology
The Trusted Software Methodology is the go-to security model for companies that deal
with sensitive consumer information. The United States government created this set of
guidelines in the 1990s as a way to counter increasingly sophisticated hackers.
It uses 25 unique "trust principles" to determine what trust ranking a particular website
or piece of software should be assigned. Within this framework, high trust represents
websites with poor security components that leave users vulnerable to breaches – an
assignment that will trigger additional security requirements from the website. On the
other hand, a low trust level means that the website is relatively safe and secure.

4. This particular approach is most often used by federal and local governments, financial
services, healthcare companies, educational institutes and other organizations that
possess extremely sensitive personal data.
Systems Security Engineering Capability Maturity Model
The Systems Security Engineering Capability Maturity Model (SSE-CCM) is a set of
rigorous security standards designed to allow companies to easily assess their current
information security efforts. This useful benchmark makes it easy for companies to
update their procedures and continually improve their processes.
This security model assesses 22 different process areas that are important for
information security. Managers can quickly see how their current procedures stack up
and determine the effectiveness of proposed changes before they are implemented.
Experienced project managers and organizations with an information security executive
are the best candidates for this model. That's because it requires previous know-how
and strong institutional support in order to be effective.
Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle
The Microsoft Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle continues to be
the gold standard security model for most industries. That's because the approach
successfully integrates data privacy concerns into every stage of the software
development lifecycle.
When the security methodology was released in 2002, Bill Gates explained that
software security needed to be continually refined and improved to meet ever-evolving
threats.
Microsoft's security framework prescribes a set of security standards that can be
integrated into any project, no matter the scope or level of complexity. These standards
include avoiding vulnerable default settings, running components with the fewest
possible permissions, and creating a secure software architecture.
Fortune 500 companies such as Adobe and Cisco use this framework as their corporate
standard because of its versatility, strong security protections and ease of use.
Build multidisciplinary development teams
In terms of personnel, the most important step that management can take to ensure
proper data privacy is to build a multidisciplinary development team from the outset.

5. These teams, which are made up of a variety of specialists, have recently gained favor
because they integrate important considerations, such as data privacy, user design and
quality assurance, into every step of the software development lifecycle.
They typically include software security experts, user experience and user interface
specialists, and both manual testers and a software developer engineer in the testing.
By assembling this type of superpowered team from the beginning, managers will
ensure a better final product. That's because these teams are constantly checking for
and correcting coding errors. In addition, security experts help project managers select
the right security methodology and test for data privacy while the basic framework is still
being designed.