According to Zahier Madhar, Security Engineer Expert at Check Point, that trust is increasingly under pressure. "In a world where AI reuses data on a large scale, privacy has become the breaking point of digital trust," he states. "Privacy risks are no longer limited to databases and servers. They are shifting to AI interfaces, collaboration tools, browsers, and cloud platforms. Exactly the places where data is shared today and where traditional privacy measures were never designed for. Employees provide sensitive information to generative AI as if it were a search engine, while organizations often have no idea where that data ends up."

Why traditional privacy approaches fall short

This shift makes it painfully clear, according to Madhar, that existing privacy strategies are reaching their limits. "These issues highlight why existing approaches fall short," he believes. "Traditional privacy strategies are built on policies, consent, and retrospective controls. But in an AI-driven environment, data moves continuously and disappears from the view of security and privacy teams. The result is a growing gap between the intention to protect privacy and the operational reality in which data is copied, reused, and stored uncontrollably."

Therefore, privacy and security can no longer be seen in isolation. "Data privacy and data security are two sides of the same coin. Security protects data from unauthorized access; privacy determines how that data is used responsibly and legally. Once either falls short, trust disappears, regardless of how many tools, rules, or policy documents exist."

AI increases the attack surface

This interdependence becomes even more urgent, according to Madhar, as AI is deployed on an increasingly large scale. "This connection becomes even more urgent as AI is deployed on a large scale. Protecting privacy today also means securing the AI systems themselves. Models, applications, agents, and data flows create a larger attack surface and increase risks, often faster than organizations can foresee or manage."

Effective data protection therefore requires a fundamentally different approach. "Effective data privacy in the AI era requires preventive security controls at the points where humans and AI intersect and in real-time, not retrospectively. Privacy does not arise after an incident, but before data is shared. Those who only react once information has already leaked have already lost trust," Madhar states. "On Data Privacy Day, the message is clear: organizations that do not proactively integrate privacy and security will never gain control over the security threats that AI brings."

Zahier Madhar, Security Engineer Expert, Check Point

World Data Privacy Day 2026 keeps us on track

Joep Gerrits, Regional Director Benelux at Wiz, also emphasizes that effective data protection starts with insight – and especially with speed. "Data protection begins with insight. World Data Privacy Day 2026 reminds us that keeping sensitive data safe in the cloud is not something you implement afterward, but something you need to consider from the start."

According to Gerrits, the challenge lies not only in locating data but especially in understanding the context in which that data is used. "As teams work faster and move more to the cloud, the challenge is not only to know where sensitive data is located but also to understand how that data moves, who has access to it, and where risks arise. This requires real-time context linked to the environments in which teams work, so that teams can reduce exposure before it becomes an incident."

Security without friction

It is crucial that security aligns with the daily practices of teams. "Protecting data is easiest when security aligns with the existing workflows of people," Gerrits points out. "When teams can identify risks without friction and respond to them, they keep sensitive data safe, stay ahead of threats, and comply with privacy laws and regulations. In a world that is constantly changing, security cannot be static. The key to effective data protection is to move faster from insight to action."

Joep Gerrits, Regional Director Benelux at Wiz