Big data and its legal risks

While many jargons are abound surrounding the “Big Data”, its legal risks are real and potentially damaging. The proliferation of data from ubiquitous sources accumulated with increasing economic values attached to those data is often not balanced with adequate awareness and a prudent risk management. The fact that the end-users are not equally vigilant makes it easier for criminal minds to profit illegitimately from the IT services. It is a high time for all IT stakeholders to look at the Big Data not only as a change of gadget and technology, but also an important shift of people and process guided not only by industrial best practices, but also by the increasing sets of laws set out by legislatures and courts, such as those on the area of information security, data privacy and electronic transactions. With this background and observation, this presentation will take two major tasks. Firstly, examining the types of legal risks involved in the provision of cyber and IT-related services which occur in a Big Data environment. Secondly, it highlights some aspects of data privacy and security laws as mandated by data protection regulations. Frequent comments and assessment based on the Malaysian and Indonesian legal framework of the personal data protection will be discussed as a case study