David Clarke, a cybersecurity expert, was recently interviewed as part of a Kingston Technology blog on the role of encrypted storage for compliance with NIS2. The regulation became law across EU member states in October. Why should that concern UK-based companies? Because if they trade with the EU, they too will need to adhere to the new security regulations or risk fines of up to €10m or 2% of their annual income, sanctions and even the threat of action against senior management for non-compliance.
NIS2 is designed to create a common level of cybersecurity for network and IT systems and improve reporting, among other objectives. The aim is to fill the data protection and compliance gaps that existed when different countries approached cybersecurity in different ways. This represents a positive change for EU businesses, and UK companies if they are involved in cross-border trade and is expected to be replicated in the UK in 2025, so preparation now will stand British firms in good stead.
To comply, businesses will need to implement stricter security measures, including encryption, to maintain a high level of data integrity. While encryption is vital to ensure data cannot be altered without detection on premises, it also protects data while it’s in transit.
As David Clarke outlined, UK businesses that are planning their strategies for compliance with NIS2 should consider hardware encrypted external drives as part of their security arsenal. Solid State Drives such as the Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 External SSD leverage dedicated chips that automatically encrypt data so it cannot be extracted without proper authorisation, even if the device is lost. Flash drives such as the Kingston IronKey Keypad 200 Series USBhave a tamper-resistant design which can destroy data if unauthorised access is attempted.
There are many tools and approaches that can help companies to comply with the broad scope of NIS2, but if organisations are looking for user-friendly, highly secure and scalable solutions they can check out Kingston Technology’s range here.
