How Tech empowers businesses amidst the rising data privacy concerns

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Glenn Gore, CEO, Affinidi

1. Are businesses seeing an increasing risk of cyberattacks? What does this entail for a market like India?

• Yes, businesses globally are experiencing an escalating threat landscape due to the rapid growth of digital technologies and the increasing sophistication of cybercriminals.
• A study by Cloudflare revealed that 83% of Indian organisations experienced at least one cybersecurity incident, such as web attacks, phishing, and supply chain attacks, in the past year, with 48% experiencing 10 or more cyberattacks.
• While many businesses acknowledge this threat, a Cisco study revealed that only 4% of Indian companies feel fully prepared to handle cyberattacks, highlighting a significant gap between awareness and action.
• A business data breach can shatter trust, damage reputation, and lead to hefty fines under India’s data privacy laws. Nearly half (47%) of Indian companies experienced financial losses exceeding $1 million due to cybersecurity incidents, while 27% faced setbacks of at least $2 million. These attacks aren’t just a nuisance but also cause major operational disruptions for businesses, incurring hefty losses, impacting productivity, customer trust, and potential legal repercussions.
• This fear of cyberattacks can lead to businesses’ hesitation to collect and utilise consumer data, hindering their ability to personalise services and compete effectively.
• Governments and the private sector would greatly benefit from collaborating to craft a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy tailored to meet the distinctive challenges and risks present in the Indian market.

2. How can Indian businesses prevent getting targeted by such threats? How does adopting a Holistic Identity Approach empower and benefit businesses with data security?

• In today’s digital landscape, Indian businesses face a constant barrage of cyber threats. Businesses should prioritise data security and privacy, ensuring robust measures are in place to protect sensitive information from unauthorised access and breaches. To fortify their defences, they can use various strategies.
• Decentralised systems are an effective solution to combat the rise of cyber-attacks due to their increased resilience, fault tolerance, security, scalability, and flexibility. Unlike centralised systems which are prone to single points of failure, whereas decentralised systems can withstand breaches by operating independently and distributing workloads across multiple nodes. They enhance security by not relying on a central authority and using encryption to protect data.
• Additionally, businesses should utilise robust cybersecurity measures such as strong encryption methodologies, cryptography applications, and modern public key management systems to safeguard data and transactions from breaches, unauthorised access, and other potential cyber threats.
• Advanced methods such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP)— a cryptographic technique for verifying specific facts about a person or an entity without revealing underlying Personally Identifiable Information (PII)— offer a data minimisation approach that reduces the impact from potential breaches and makes targeting less attractive.
• To elaborate on zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), instead of having a person prove that they are an adult by disclosing their date of birth, a government could issue a ZKP that confirms someone’s adulthood based on local legal definitions.
• By returning data control to individuals and minimising stored customer information—typically sensitive PII— through ZKP, businesses no longer store vast amounts of valuable data. This decreases their databases’ attractiveness to cyber threats and enhances security by reducing the risk of data breaches altogether.
• Affinidi’s holistic identity solutions are built within a decentralised ecosystem, prioritising user control and data security through verifiable credentials, passwordless authentication, and zero-knowledge proofs. Our Holistic Identity concept empowers businesses to enable individuals to control their data sharing, determining what information to share in exchange for value while reinforcing data privacy and user control.
• Affinidi promotes trust through a transparent, decentralised ecosystem where data exchange is secure and compliant. By combining verifiable credentials, passwordless authentication, zero-knowledge proofs, and more, we address user trust challenges, ensuring confidence in shared information while maintaining privacy standards.

3. How can data further be used to provide better experiences for consumers?

• In the digital economy, businesses leverage diverse data types to understand consumers better, each characterised by different levels of transparency and consent.
• Zero-party data (ZPD) is uniquely valuable as it is provided directly by consumers who willingly share their information for specific personalised services or benefits. This ensures accuracy through explicit consent and a high level of trust and transparency.
• In contrast, although often consented to, first-party data originates directly from customer interactions and is inferred from user’s historical data. Second-party data results from inter-business sharing, which may not always include explicit consumer consent. Third-party data is the least transparent, gathered from external sources, and frequently needs accuracy and consumer consent.
• Among these, ZPD stands as the most trusted, reliable and accurate data type, which is crucial for businesses focused on deepening customer insights and enhancing engagement strategies.
• As data privacy regulations like the GDPR and CCPA tighten, businesses must prioritise consented and accurate data sources, reducing legal risks and dependence on external data pools.
• Businesses can utilise zero-party data to provide better experiences for consumers in several ways:
• Develop highly personalised marketing campaigns and communications that closely align with individual consumer preferences, significantly improving conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
• Beyond marketing, ZPD influences product development and website optimisation, allowing businesses to tailor their offerings and digital interfaces to meet consumer expectations and preferences better.
• Businesses can significantly enhance consumer experiences by effectively utilising zero-party data (ZPD).
• Leveraging zero-party data (ZPD) helps businesses comply with data privacy laws, while also fostering trust and a deeper connection with customers. This approach drives customer loyalty and contributes to overall business success
• Affinidi’s holistic identity solutions enable businesses to gather zero-party data (ZPD), fostering transparent, secure, and trust-based exchanges between companies and consumers. This approach strengthens compliance and builds consumer trust, satisfaction, and loyalty.
• In essence, by integrating solutions with the Holistic Identity architecture, businesses are not just responding to market demands for greater privacy and control but are also proactively shaping an industry standard that prioritises ethical data practices built on trust and transparency. Through Holistic Identity, we aim to revolutionise digital ecosystems by returning data sovereignty to individuals, fostering innovations for more personalised user experiences, and increasing value through the exchange of personal data.