Tough regulations have already been put in place to punish companies that fail to safeguard user data. The most recent regulation touching on this was the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is quite demanding for organizations that want to be fully compliant with its requirements. The consequence of non-compliance with GDPR is that organizations found culpable will be heavily fined. GDPR is just one of the many regulations in cyberspace that have been designed to protect privacy and ensure security. There are many other regulations that apply to different jurisdictions. In the US, there is the HIPAA Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the Federal Information Security Act, which regulate the collection, use, and protection of data in healthcare, financial, and federal agencies. There are more laws that are coming up in countries such as the US, with more bills still in the queue to become future laws.
The regulatory space can, therefore, drastically change in months. Organizations do not always have the resources to stay abreast with the regulatory changes. The problem with data is that it can move across several regions and be subject to different regulations. For instance, while the GDPR only affects the data belonging to EU citizens, organizations world over have to comply with it, since they cannot foretell when they will interact with data from EU citizens. Many data regulations have to be followed, regardless of the geographical region they are passed in.
It would take a lot of resources for organizations to research all of the regulations that they are supposed to follow, and this is why they mostly outsource this function. You can create a career out of being a consultant for data regulations. You have to be conversant with all applicable data regulations to a company and help the company in complying with the regulations. You have to keep updated with all the changes in these regulations and advise organizations accordingly when changes are made. The cyberspace is soon going to face major challenges for regulatory compliance. It is estimated that there is an average of 200 regulatory changes globally. While many of these do not currently affect the cybersecurity industry, soon they will. It is, therefore, best to start learning to become a regulatory compliance consultant for organizations today.