Next time when you are hit by a cyber attack, you better be aware that the UK’s Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) will soon make the information public by posting it on its website. Yes, this is what the ICO has decided as it believes that naming and shaming will make company heads take measures to safeguard their IT infrastructure and data of users.
With little trumpeting, the data from the fourth quarter of 2021, naming the victimized organization and sector, is already available on the website of the commissioner’s office and soon more is expected to be revealed.
How the European data regulators are eligible to reveal such information on a public platform is yet to be known. But if you go through the website, a large data-set belonging to a notified company is available in the section already at present.
Companies involved in repeated hacks and having established a permanent place on the ICO website will be prosecuted by mid next year.
It is worth noting that the name and shame session started by the Information Commissioner Officer in this year’s end is followed by the increase in ICO fines by 3 times from the past 12 months.
As a report from law firm RPC claims that the year 2022 witnessed a penalties accounting for £15.2 million up from £4.6m witnessed in the year 2020-21.
Wonder how the breached firms will react to such public shaming?
