• 02 August, 2021
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Privacy Ninja’s DPO-AS-A-Service Bolsters Data Protection & Cybersecurity of over 200 Organizations in Singapore 

Privacy Ninja is the appointed Data Protection Officer (DPO) of over 200 organizations in Singapore; just purely for its first–of–its–kind outsourced DPO service (DPO-as-a-Service). The appointment of a DPO is mandatory for all organizations in Singapore. Through years of expertise in the industry, it has positively confirmed that most businesses wait until their systems have been compromised before they take cybersecurity seriously. 

This is reflective of how global statistics have shown a significant increase in data breaches in a short span of time. In Southeast Asia (SEA) alone, incidents were reported to shoot up exponentially since 2020. The trend has continued up to the 1st quarter of 2021 for burgeoning economies like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. 

How Work-From-Home Policy became a Cybersecurity Threat 

The sudden spike in data breaches is another ramification of the Covid–19 pandemic. Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) says 43% of all crimes in the city–state happened online in 2020. 

Privacy Ninja theorizes that the mandatory WFH policy implemented by the government is a great catalyst to the trend. Some employees who work from home may not have a dedicated laptop and share a desktop computer with their family instead. 

Others are not even well–educated on the absolute importance of their passwords. Most often, these employees would use the same passwords across all accounts, without even bothering to integrate a 2–factor authentication. 

Lastly, being away from direct control of any supervisor, WFH employees can be more susceptible to committing errors. This may include the sending of emails which contain personal data or confidential company information. There is also a great deal of chance that these employees may wander off to third party sites and use their company email to sign up. 

All of these instances are not far from happening in your business organization, as vouched by Privacy Ninja bunking from their hundreds of handled cases. 

Enactment of Data Protection Regulations

To address the ever growing threat to data protection, Singapore has required all businesses to adhere to the PDPA regulations, imposing penalties for violations thereof. 

One case that made it to the news last March involved a furniture retailer company in Singapore whose over 300,000 customer information and records were stolen. Just about three months prior, PDPC has decided another large–scale data breach case wherein personal information of about 800,000 blood donors were compromised. The fine imposed was an astonishing amount of S$120,000. 

More Than Hefty Penalties 

This monetary penalty is only a part of the set–backs your business organization can experience. With IBM Security placing the average cost of data breach at US$3.86 million, it is no doubt that your business should always maintain strict adherence to the law. However, each industry has unique data privacy and cybersecurity requirements. It therefore primarily falls under the role of a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to ensure utmost compliance thereto. 

Outsourcing DPO Services is More Practical 

While some companies have an in–house DPO, there are certain benefits in outsourcing this service. For one, outsourced cybersecurity checkups such as Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) would significantly cost less than paying wage to a full–time employee. 

There is also no security of tenure in in–house DPOS. Once an employee leaves, he takes with him the training–based knowledge imparted and the company needs to train the replacement again. Collaborating with Private Ninja, gives you a team of cybersecurity experts who have years of guaranteed experience in this industry and not just a general background on IT. 

More importantly, keep in mind that cybersecurity firms follow the same PDPA regulations and often face cybersecurity threats just like your business does. As such, you are afforded with a multi–layered cyber protection that utilizes extensive and more efficient security checks and methods. This drastically reduces ‘employee errors‘ that often lead to PDPA violation, such as those cited in work–from–home setups. 

Affordable and Credible Data Protection to Hundreds of Organizations 

Founders Andy Prakash (CEO) and Dexter Ng (CTO) have intimated that they started Privacy Ninja after realizing that SMEs seem to have very limited access to excellent yet cost–friendly cybersecurity and data privacy compliance services. 

Thus, the company guarantees to its notable clientele including Marina Bay Holdings Group, Curtin University, Marché Restaurants, Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group etc, only the most comprehensive yet affordable DPO–as–a- Service package. Privacy Ninja also serves Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) of shopping malls like Far East Shopping Centre, business parks like Wcega Plaza & Tower, and various private condominiums islandwide. 

Dynamic Solutions to Evolving Problems 

Privacy Ninja’s DPO–as–a–Service has been tried and tested over a hundred times through PDPA audits. Its VAPT team comprises expert whitehats who understand the intricacies of cyberthreats and solutions. They also offer PDPA training for companies, which is SkillsFuture–credit eligible, customizable, and carefully crafted to minimize human error of employees and upping overall awareness. Finally, a revolutionary Robot DPO software is also undergoing development, aiming to make the role of a DPO easier, regardless of prior experience or training. 

Privacy Ninja recognizes the ever–changing landscape of cybersecurity. As rules and regulations on data protection policy changes; the company believes that experience is key in the data protection compliance industry. 

Privacy Ninja proudly stands out in this field by being the one of the very few turnkey service provider(s) handling real world hacking incidents, data breaches, ransomware recovery assistance, security analysis and hardening for businesses. Businesses may think that hackers only target larger companies abroad but Privacy Ninja has attested that they remediate averagely one to two ransomware attacks every month. 

From hereon, the company intends to expand globally, with Singapore as its launchpad, and ultimately becoming the leader in affordable and credible cybersecurity services. 

Learn more about Privacy Ninja and their services here: https://www.privacy.com.sg/.

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This article first appeared in Markets Insider last August 2, 2021.