Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: FTC Chairwoman Ramirez kicks off “Start with Security” initiative, (Sep 9, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez presented the opening remarks today at the FTC’s “Start with Security” conference in San Francisco, which is co-sponsored by University of California Hastings College of the Law. She largely focused her remarks on the tech industry, including startups and developers, and how the conference will offer practical guidance to businesses to help implement security best practices.

According to Ramirez, the tech industry and startups are crucial partners in the data security and privacy effort because they affect the lives of millions of consumers. “Innovation begins with you, but so too should security,” she said.

The chairwoman offered three key steps businesses can implement to promote data security:

(1) think about privacy and security as products are designed and embed privacy and security in the development process;

2) test the product to determine whether security is operating as intended, whether privacy offerings are working, and whether the controls implemented are secure; and

(3) establish effective strategies for managing, addressing, and learning from privacy and data security flaws, which are inevitable.

In closing, Ramirez noted that by adopting security best practices, startups and developers in the tech industry can ensure that their products and services are trustworthy. She urged companies to take a step back and implement creative and innovative ideas responsibly. The loss of data could have “disastrous consequences,” Ramirez said, and to avoid these consequences companies “have a responsibility to start with security.”

News: Privacy FederalTradeCommissionNews