Ireland is in the vanguard of global technology but businesses here are struggling with the changing demands of data privacy laws, according to cybersecurity and data privacy experts.

The British Standards Institution (BSI) has also cautioned that a shortage of skills in the privacy field is placing many organisations at risk.

When it comes to privacy and data protection, many businesses simply do not have adequate skills to get the fundamentals right, according to BSI chief Mike Bailey.

“Our sector skills are in high demand at present and we are seeing a shortage of skilled professionals, especially in the privacy field, as organizations seek to meet compliance of new and existing regulations such as the GDPR and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA),” he said.

The boss of International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) J. Trevor Hughes also said yesterday in Dublin that his organization has doubled in size in the last three years as a result of the surge in demand for cybersecurity.

“We have 55,000 members in more than 120 countries while over 20,000 people hold a least one IAPP certification,” he said.

Complicated environment

Hughes added that according to IAPP research, 500,000 organizations have registered data protection officers across Europe, and these operate in an ever more complicated environment.

BSI has announced a new portfolio of advanced training courses for 2020, designed to meet growing corporate demands for privacy and information security skills among Irish firms.

BSI works with 84,000 clients across 193 countries and runs a cybersecurity and information resilience centre of excellence in Sandyford, Dublin, where it manages and secures global corporate information.