Edith Ramirez, an FTC Chairwoman, has commented that it is essential for tech startups to be investing in cyber security into their businesses right from the very beginning. During the FTC’s, “Start with Security” conference, which took place on September 9th, she also called for a ‘culture of security’ within the tech industry, including startups.
She said, “A number of companies still don’t understand the importance of making the appropriate investment when it comes to security.” She went on to say, “The economic incentives may not necessarily always be there to make the requisite investment. Sometimes the devices themselves might be difficult to embed appropriate security in. So we want to see the ingenuity that we see behind all these terrific new devices and services also thinking about how to embed security.”
While the FTC doesn’t exactly say how startup companies should fund this investment, it is clearly something that they will be requiring from these businesses. Some people suggest that these types of requirements by the FTC and other government agencies will only serve to hurt the innovation that has driven the tech industry for so many years.
There are some new tech companies that get a lot of press due to million dollar investments to get started, but most are begun by individuals trying to bring their ideas to the market. Of course, nobody would deny that security is an essential component of any new technology, many argue that putting requirements on in such early stages is an unreasonable burden.
Regardless, however, the FTC has been making a big push toward cyber security in the past year, largely because of the major hacks and high profile problems that have hit major corporations.
No matter how you feel about the situation, if you’re thinking about starting a new tech company, you will want to keep this in mind so you can hopefully avoid problems with the FTC.
