2024’s top video privacy and security trends: a new frontier of digital safety
As we step into 2024, it's become increasingly clear that our digital ecosystem is facing a profound challenge: a surge in data breaches. The United States has seen a 20% increase in data breaches in the first nine months of 2023 alone.
This is due to escalating ransomware attacks, flawed data management systems, cloud storage weaknesses, and a glaring gap in robust oversight and regulatory frameworks.
It’s not just a statistic, it’s a reflection of the value of data.
Video technology - now integral to sectors like home security, urban surveillance, retail, and even personal devices like smartphones and webcams - is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it offers unparalleled benefits in monitoring, safety, and data gathering. On the other, it opens up new avenues for potential vulnerabilities and risks.
From smart city surveillance systems to retail analytics and personal security devices, we find a complex variety of privacy and security challenges. These range from unauthorised access and misuse of video feeds to ethical concerns around surveillance and data protection.
Reflecting on 2023
Last year marked notable strides and challenges across privacy and security. Catalysed by a series of large-scale data breaches across various sectors, there was a colossal shift to introduce new data privacy legislation, aiming to solidify personal data protection and address the evolving technological landscape.
The introduction of new data privacy legislation in 2023 signifies a global trend towards strengthening data protection and privacy norms. Amongst others, Canada, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and India have all updated their laws, along with comprehensive state laws in the United States and the establishment of the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
A pivotal moment was the global reaction to the explosion of Large Language Models (LLMs) and advanced AI technologies, such as ChatGPT. Their widespread adoption opened a pandora’s box for legal complexities and ethical concerns, particularly around data privacy, user consent, and the potential for misuse - not to mention a rigorous debate on regulatory frameworks to govern their use.
As mentioned in our 2023 predictions, there has been a stronger emphasis on protecting children’s data, as well as the advancement of AI-enabled video analytics, particularly facial recognition technology.
2023 also saw heightened efforts to regulate AI. Governments and international bodies proposed significant recommendations for ethical AI practices that focused on transparency, accountability, and user rights.
The developments of the year set the stage for ongoing discussions and actions across the digital privacy and security spectrum and underlined the need for continual adaptation and vigilance.
What trends can we anticipate for 2024?
Enhanced regulation and standardisation of AI ethics in video surveillance
AI is more ingrained in video surveillance than ever. In the wake of 2023’s privacy concerns around facial recognition, there's a clear trend towards establishing global AI ethics standards. Last year’s aftermath of several controversial uses of AI in surveillance has set precedents for 2024. Expect rigorous measures focusing on consent, transparency, and accountability, with significant implications for public surveillance and private security sectors worldwide.
Decentralisation of data storage and processing
There is a major shift to decentralised data models like edge computing, thanks to the many high-profile data breaches in 2023. This trend addresses the vulnerabilities of centralised data storage by processing data near its source. It is particularly relevant in sectors like healthcare and finance where data security is paramount, and is expected to enhance video data security significantly.
Increased focus on video data security in IoT and smart city initiatives
Following several incidents of IoT breaches in urban settings last year, there's an escalated focus to secure video data from IoT devices. This trend is crucial for the integrity of smart city infrastructures and demands robust security protocols and encryption methods. It will be most impactful in densely populated urban areas, where smart city initiatives are more concentrated.
Advancements in anonymisation techniques for video data
The coming year will likely see a surge in AI-driven anonymisation techniques, such as real-time blurring or pixelation, to protect identities in video feeds whilst responsibly collecting useful data.
A direct response to public outcry over privacy infringements in 2023, this development emerges to balance data usage with privacy. It is expected to have a significant impact on the retail and public transportation sectors, where video surveillance is particularly prevalent.
Emergence of video privacy as a service (VPaaS)
Fuelled by the tightening of privacy legislation and public demand for transparency, VPaaS is emerging as a comprehensive solution because it addresses the challenges of managing video data privacy across various industries. With the tech industry’s response to the increasing regulatory pressures of 2023 - e.g. implementation of enhanced compliance mechanisms, development of privacy-focused products, data audits, and more - VPaaS will likely see widespread adoption. This will be in sectors ranging from healthcare to retail, offering solutions like compliance management and secure storage.