Shifting left, reminiscent of Beyoncė’s famous song, Irreplaceable, is not just a passing trend but a fundamental shift in how we approach software development and security. Historically, security has often been an afterthought — a box to check once the software’s built. However, this reactive approach has proven inadequate in today’s cybersecurity landscape.

Data in motion, also known as data in transit, is the transmission of digital information from one location to another. This can include: Data in motion is just one of three data states, including data at rest and data in use.

In today’s age of rapidly increasing data collection, data privacy laws are becoming more prevalent than ever. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is considered the worldwide benchmark of data privacy law. While many countries have followed similar regulations, the United States does not have a GDPR equivalent. Instead of national standards and regulations, individual states pass their own privacy laws.

The data protection landscape is changing. The rapid adoption of cloud and software as a service (SaaS) greatly affects the financial industry, where many institutions rely on SaaS vendors for data protection previously implemented in-house. Moody’s Analytics relies on cloud service providers (CSPs) to adequately protect its data, showcasing the need for scalability, industry cost controls, and flexibility.

Organizations must constantly adapt to the challenges of maintaining compliance while handling data. Nowhere is that more apparent than cross-border data protection, which allows data to be and remain protected across jurisdictions, states, counties, and countries with the right data security tools. According to the United Nations, 137 of 197 of its members have data and privacy legislation in place.