Our homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses are all benefiting from this age of innovation.   

Rapidly advancing technology, from generative AI to quantum computing, holds promise and will shape our future and create possibilities we have yet to discover. Much of the power and potential of these new technologies depends on data. Analyzing large data sets will help unlock new insights, identify new solutions to problems and create new experiences. But promising advancements fueled by data are reminders that data can represent real people and it needs to be used responsibly and protected. 

We know that 2023 will be a pivotal year in privacy. For Data Privacy Week 2023 and beyond, we all need to come together across governments, organizations, industries, and borders to meet this moment and do our part. 

Here are some predictions about data privacy in 2023 from us at the National Cybersecurity Alliance: 

1. We are now fully in the regulatory era. Governments are moving fast to ensure that technology meets societies’ expectations. Businesses are in a new era that will require companies to take more responsibility for the innovations they create.  

2. It has never been a more important time to use a password manager, even though they are an imperfect solution. Protecting your online data starts with having strong passwords that are unique to each online account.  

3. Similarly, multi-factor authentication adds a whole other layer of security for your data, and we hope that soon every online platform, app, and website will add an MFA function. We suggest that you enable MFA for any account that permits it! 

4. Data privacy will become a global kitchen table issue, not just an industry focus. As more of the world comes online, and each person has more and more online accounts, expect data privacy to a notable regulatory, political and even cultural issue. 

Technology innovation is not going to slow down. The work to manage this environment for our customers and ourselves needs to speed up.