With interconnectivity and use of digital storage expanding, cyberthreats posed by nation states, commercial competitors, company insiders, transnational organised crime and ‘hacktivists’ are growing on a global basis. Recent high-profile data intrusions in the United States have brought particular attention to cyber espionage and cyber ‘attacks’ perpetuated by nation states, prompting data and information security to become a major geopolitical topic for relations between the United States and China, as well as several other nations. For commercial enterprises, cybersecurity is no longer a technical issue for information technology personnel; it is a high priority for corporate counsel, senior executives and company boards. In this environment, maintaining an effective corporate cybersecurity programme is likewise growing in importance.

Originally published in Getting the Deal Through - Cybersecurity 2016, by Law Business Research Ltd. - March 2016.