The Bermuda branch of a global computer security watchdog will on Thursday hold its annual meeting — with a focus on privacy and data protection.

Duncan Card, managing principal at legal firm Bennett Jones, will kick off the all-day Isaca meeting with a talk on cybersecurity, compliance and risk management.

Mr Card said: “The overarching theme is privacy and data protection — data protection and corporate governance and data protection and privacy.

“My approach to this in the knowledge-based, information economy in which we live, especially in a high-focused service economy, is that the most valuable assets a company can own is its data.

“That diversified business knowhow, intellectual property, information from trading partners, customer data — that is now private under an increasing number of laws around the world.”

Mr Card added that regulators were taking an increasing interest in asking companies how they manage the risk and protect the integrity of the data to “prevent the collapse in value of their assets.”

And he said that shareholder activists, consumer rights groups and more and more class actions after data is hacked had focused attention on the area — particularly against a background of increasing numbers of high-profile attacks on systems.

The Isaca meeting, to be held at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, will feature a total of six presentations on various aspects of privacy and data protection.

Jarion Richardson, founder and managing principal of Certainty, will discuss hiding information and beneficial ownership.

Rob Moerman, senior manager at Deloitte cyber-risk services, will discuss how to grasp and confront emerging threats to the financial services sector, while Cinthia Granados Motley, law firm Sedgwick’s specialist in cybersecurity will talk about the “expanding landscape of cybersecurity.

Adam Tice, manager of Mandiant Consulting Services, will talk on the use of hired hackers and adversary simulation as an effective tool to protect against systems intrusion.

And Brad Desilets, accounts manager at Zerta and an expert in the firm’s cloud continuity platform, will discuss the new standard for IT resilience.

Mr Card said: “There is a decreasing tolerance in commercial partners for failure.”

He added that, as business was increasingly global, the risk of major financial loss was matched by the danger of severe reputational damage on a worldwide basis after a successful cyber attack was a real risk.

Mr Card said: “The bad guys are going after the valuable assets — they’re not breaking into banks to steal cash any more. They’re going after the bank’s data.”

The meeting, which costs $270 for Isaca members and $295 for non-members, starts at 8.30am with registration and breakfast.

The conference will be followed by the Annual General Meeting of Isaca and a TechTalk panel discussion on the day’s hot topics.

To register, contact rsvp@isacabermuda.com