A trend that is already forming in other areas of the world, government regulators in South Korea are cracking down on data security by imposing stricter rules for companies that suffer data breaches.
According to a recent Korea JoongAng Daily report, the Financial Services Commission of South Korea has announced it will attempt to limit data loss among financial institutions by enforcing new regulations that make suffering such incidents more costly.
Under the new regulations, financial institutions will be required to hire a chief information security officer and increase data security budgets, while company CEOs will have to sign off on any corporate IT security plans, the news provider stated.
Additionally, the FSC will introduce new penalties for companies that fail to comply with the new regulations. According to the JoongAng Daily, a company that suffers a data breach will be required to offer compensation for affected customers.
The new regulations are expected to be rolled out fully by the fourth quarter of 2011.
Other governing bodies around the world are also stepping up their data protection regulations in an attempt to hold companies more accountable for data breaches and other forms of data loss.
In the United States, for example, the Obama administration has advocated the adoption of new legislation that would condense the country's combined 47 federal and state data breach notification laws into one national law. This, the White House has argued, will create a more simplified, comprehensive standard across the country.
Meanwhile, European Commission vice president Viviane Reding has announced plans to propose stricter data breach notification laws for the European Union. Like the Obama administration’s proposal, Reding is seek to create a more comprehensive, over-reaching standard throughout the union.
