CA welcomes new data protection measures by DIFC

The new protection measures being introduced under The Data Protection Law, following a period of public consultation ensures the protection of all personal information, including any sensitive personal data. This law is also compliant with the provisions of the laws and directives of the European Union and the guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including the transfer of data.

The updated law helps ensure the protection of private individual's interest against mistreatment of personal information in Dubai's International Financial Centre covering sectors such as banking, insurance, finance and services. It also stipulates damage compensation if companies do not implement organizational and technical measures of protecting personal data against unauthorised processing, use and disclosure to third parties.

Commenting on the law, Abdul Karim Riyaz, Regional Director of Storage and Data Protection Business Unit for CA's EMEA Eastern Markets said, "CA welcomes this move by DIFC which will further strengthen and increase investor confidence in the rapidly growing United Arab Emirates (UAE) financial markets. Data protection and its ramifications are in line with CA's Enterprise IT Management (EITM) Vision, of which Risk Management is an integral part. CA's portfolios of storage and security solutions are uniquely positioned to manage risk, thereby helping clients comply with global as well as regional regulations."

Maria Medvedeva, Regional Director of Security Business Unit for CA's EMEA Eastern Markets, added, "The UAE financial sector has a fiduciary responsibility and is here to serve the customer which means that there is a certain amount of trust that's expected. This will lead to an increased pressure from the regulators around what financial institutions do, especially since they are dealing not only with people's money, but also their confidential information."

She added, "From a security standpoint, CA offers Identity and Access Management Suite that allows managing identities of employees, partners, suppliers, as well as customers thus addressing a number of confidentiality and data privacy issues. This software also ensures that only authorised users can access critical resources."

Some of the key global regulations that CA supports through its various solutions are, European Union's data protection directive and Anti-money laundering directive, International Accounting standards, ISO Information Security Standards, USA Patriot ACT, BASEL II, Health care as well as Sarbanes Oxley Act.