From: IT World Canada

Cybersecurity and accountability should be a greater business priority,  conference told

IT security experts often focus on hunting down malware makers and  vulnerabilities in organizations, while government privacy commissioners work  separately at protecting personal data.

Sometimes it seems they have conflicting goals.

But the federal privacy commissioner has told a Montreal security conference  that its time the two groups worked closer.

“It is imperative that cyber security specialists and data protection  authorities like the OPC, (Office of the Privacy Commissioner) work even more  closely together to improve the defences in the private sector, and ensure  privacy protection is a guiding principle in cyber security efforts,” Jennifer  Stoddart told a meeting of the Messaging Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working  Group on Wednesday.

The group includes telecommunications and  security companies.

Exchanging knowledge and honing of best practices “is essential for more  effective cyber security,” she said in prepared remarks released to the media. “Better cyber security is a prerequisite for effective privacy protection,” she  added.

As an example, she said, her office and the Dutch Data Protection Authority  collaborated last year on a joint investigation of WhatsApp, a mobile app  developer based in California with hundreds of millions of customers worldwide,  because it contravened privacy laws both in Canada and in the Netherlands. The  company agreed to improve its privacy protection.

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