Data Privacy Day has evolved from a symbolic annual reminder into a critical checkpoint for organisations navigating an era defined by unprecedented data creation, hyper-connected systems, and the rapid rise of AI. What began as a moment to reflect on responsible data handling has become a global call to action, urging businesses, governments, and individuals to rethink how data is collected, governed, protected, and ultimately trusted. In today’s digital landscape, privacy is no longer a compliance exercise—it is a foundational pillar of digital trust, business resilience, and ethical innovation.
For Omar Akar, VP – METCA at Pure Storage, the essence of Data Privacy Day lies in trust. He emphasises that privacy is fundamentally about how responsibly organisations protect and control the data entrusted to them. As data volumes surge and regulatory frameworks such as GDPR and DORA raise expectations, he argues that privacy can no longer be addressed through policy alone. It must be embedded into the very architecture of how data is stored, accessed, and governed. Built‑in encryption, strong key management, and clear ownership of data are now essential to maintaining confidence in an increasingly regulated world.
The rise of AI has added new urgency to the privacy conversation. Roy Horgan, Vice President and Privacy Officer at Qlik, notes that AI systems are only as trustworthy as the data they are built on. He stresses that methodologies such as privacy‑impact assessments and privacy‑by‑design must be engineered into AI from the outset, especially as autonomous agents become more embedded in daily workflows. Without strong governance, visibility, and control, organisations risk undermining user trust and limiting the impact of AI initiatives. Privacy, he says, is the trust layer that makes AI dependable at scale.
Yet the challenge extends far beyond AI. Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust, highlights how deeply interconnected modern life has become. Every transaction, authentication, and digital interaction generates personal data, creating detailed profiles through thousands of legitimate exchanges—not just breaches. He argues that absolute data privacy no longer exists, and the real question is how much data individuals are willing to share. With data flowing freely across APIs, SaaS platforms, AI models, and third‑party ecosystems, he believes true privacy requires visibility and control being assigned to the individual, not the organisation.
For Sergio Gago Huerta, CTO at Cloudera, the region’s technology leaders are increasingly recognising privacy as a strategic priority. Citing PwC’s Global Digital Trust Insights Middle East Findings 2025, he notes that 40% of technology leaders have made data protection their top investment area. As companies accelerate AI development, sensitive data often slips into training sets or prompt libraries unintentionally. Synthetic data, he explains, offers a powerful tool for secure innovation—mirroring real datasets without exposing actual records. But it must be treated as an engineering discipline, with clear purpose, controls, and governance to ensure it does not inadvertently reveal sensitive information.
The pressure to balance security and usability is also intensifying. Andre Troskie, EMEA Field CISO at Veeam Software, observes that AI has shifted from hype to real business advantage, placing data at the centre of organisational strategy. Immature data resilience, he warns, is no longer just a security risk—it is a barrier to unlocking AI’s full potential. He argues that the foundations of data resilience, such as impact assessments, standardisation, governance, and validation, remain as essential as ever. Data Privacy Day, he says, should be treated as an ongoing observance, reminding organisations that innovation cannot outpace the fundamentals.
Human behaviour remains one of the most significant variables in the privacy equation. Matt Cooke, Director of Cybersecurity Strategy, EMEA at Proofpoint, points out that while AI is boosting productivity, it is also creating new pathways for sensitive data to leak. With AI tools and autonomous agents increasingly acting on behalf of employees, understanding where data goes and how it is reused has become a major concern. Regional CISOs report that 77% of organisations in the UAE and 66% in Saudi Arabia experienced material data loss in the past year, largely due to human error. Cooke argues that a human‑centric approach to data protection—spanning email, cloud, endpoint, web, and AI tools—is essential to unlocking AI’s benefits without compromising privacy.
Gerald Beuchelt, CISO at Acronis, underscores the widening gap between awareness and behaviour. While people understand the importance of data protection, convenience often wins out, leading to weak passwords, reused credentials, and risky digital habits. In 2026, he says, privacy risk is increasingly defined by the scale and persistence of data exposure rather than isolated technical failures. Attackers now operate with automated infrastructures that continuously test credentials and exploit weaknesses at a pace humans cannot match. Closing this gap requires both better tools and better habits, with a focus on reducing unnecessary exposure across systems and platforms.
As Data Privacy Day 2026 unfolds, one message resonates across all expert perspectives: privacy is no longer a static concept or a once‑a‑year reflection. It is a dynamic, continuous responsibility that must evolve alongside technology, user behaviour, and the expanding digital ecosystem. In an age where AI, automation, and data‑driven innovation are reshaping every industry, the organisations that thrive will be those that treat privacy not as an obligation, but as a strategic advantage—and a cornerstone of trust.