As the date for compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation looms, many privacy and compliance professionals turn their eye towards international regulations. A recent meeting with a Portland, Oregon cybersecurity advocacy group reminded me that, with the increasingly complex and ever-changing nature of state data breach laws, it’s also important to keep a trained eye on privacy legislation in your own backyard.

This meeting, hosted in the RADAR offices, was a routine gathering of the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO) Cybersecurity Lab. TAO Labs are specialty groups that target focus areas and provide digital industry expertise, resources, and tech security advocacy across the regional community. The work this lab and the TAO do to advance technology and consideration of privacy and security issues in the state of Oregon is tremendous, and the individuals and companies involved represent the breadth of technology concerns in the region.

Establishing Public-private Partnerships

Having recently joined this group, I am proud to contribute to their work building awareness of cybersecurity concerns through web and media efforts, advising public policies and programs in the state, and supporting community events to further the cause.

One initiative of this group is to lay the foundation for Cyber Oregon through support for Oregon Senate Bill 90. Cyber Oregon is a statewide initiative founded under Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s executive order, intended to create a cross-sector cybersecurity program that will allow for public and private sector coordination and incident response. SB 90 seeks to establish a permanent cybersecurity center of excellence in the state that would establish a central point for coordinating cybersecurity information sharing and cross-sector incident response, performing cybersecurity threat analysis and remediation and promoting shared and real-time situational awareness between the public and private sectors in the state.

Alex Pettit, the chief information officer for the State of Oregon, wrote in a recent article for State Tech Magazine:

Cyber Oregon will provide backbone support, act in a convening role to continue refining our common agenda, establish shared metrics to measure progress and coordinate mutually reinforcing activities among our higher education, private and public sector partners. The recognition that no one should be left behind, and a firm resolve toward action, set Cyber Oregon apart from similar state initiatives. Recognizing that we are all in this together, we can execute a coordinated multisector approach that recognizes cybersecurity as a public good. Ultimately, we are more resilient when we stand together.

This is one example of the value in remaining aware of and encouraging statewide work to protect private information. Oregon is home to the so-called “Silicon Forest,” and a healthy, growing part of the technology industry in the region is centered on protecting the privacy and security of personal information, a value that is very well aligned with work we do here at RADAR.

In addition to providing our customers with an automated risk assessment process that will give you real, actionable decision-support guidance as to whether your privacy incident is a data breach requiring notification under relevant state and federal jurisdictions, the rich resources within RADAR help our customers stay on top of ever-changing breach notification legislation.

The RADAR Law Overviews include state, federal, and international summaries of relevant data breach notification laws – including GDPR, as well as a listing of proposed and recently passed legislation in regulatory watchlists that our regulatory team ensures is always up-to-date.


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RADAR Named Finalist for 2017 Oregon Tech Awards

For the second year in a row, RADAR, Inc. has been named a finalist for two awards by the 2017 Oregon Tech Awards, in the “Technology Company of the Year – Emerging” and “Most Disruptive Technology of the Year” categories. Thank you to the Technology Association of Oregon for this nomination – this annual program celebrates excellence in the region’s technology industry, and we are honored to be part of this thriving community.

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