Tel Aviv-based law firm Asserson, which practices English law, recently hosted a conference on GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation), privacy, and data protection at LABS TLV. Major themes of the conference were Privacy by Design - the notion that measures to protect privacy must be considered at the outset of the design of products and operation, and opportunities for Israeli cybersecurity companies in the UK.
British Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan OBE opened the conference by speaking about the importance of privacy and data protection in today’s digital world, and the trade relationship between Israel and the UK.
The conference covered a range of topics related to GDPR. Cedric Burton, partner and global co-chair for privacy and security at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (Brussels), focused on current GDPR enforcement trends in the various EU jurisdictions, and offered advice on how to navigate the expected challenges companies will face in the area of enforcement in 2020.
Dr. Chris Moore, technology and cybersecurity specialist of the UK Department for International Trade, discussed the tremendous opportunities for Israeli companies looking to expand their operations to the UK. The UK is the largest, most concentrated and accessible cybersecurity market in Europe, valued in 2016 at £5.7 billion. To encourage the development of a strong cybersecurity ecosystem, the UK government provides support in the way of programs, resources, and funding. All of these benefits are available to Israeli companies breaking into the UK market. In addition, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), opened in 2017, is an independent authority working with both private and public sector organizations to improve cybersecurity, and in large part helps to mitigate common cyber threats which companies often face in the UK.
Head of privacy and data protection at Asserson, Avishai Ostrin, talked about the main topic of the conference - privacy by design - where it came from and how it has been incorporated into GDPR. He gave some practical recommendations on how to design privacy and data protection into businesses, and the importance of being proactive about this issue.
Stephanie Simmonds, data protection officer at Ernst and Young UK&I, discussed how to implement a GDPR compliance program on a budget, emphasizing the need to have a common sense approach to GDPR compliance, and ensure accountability for GDPR compliance.
Ostrin announced the introduction of GDPR One, a partnership between Asserson and cybersecurity company CyberLynx which is based in Israel, the UK and Luxembourg, offering an end-to-end privacy and security compliance solution which addresses both legal and cybersecurity aspects of the issue.
Asserson founder and senior partner Trevor Asserson said:"Privacy by Design is a key principle that is not properly addressed by most companies in today’s marketplace. As privacy becomes more and more important in business, and fines grow larger by the day, businesses need to start taking privacy more seriously and implement more robust controls in order to deliver compliance."
Asserson was founded in 2005. It offers services in dispute resolution, business law, finance, real estate, and planning. The firm has ten partners, and 41 lawyers in total, at its offices in London and Tel Aviv.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 19, 2019
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