Managing events today means dealing with huge amounts of personal data. Names, email addresses, credit card numbers and session options all reside in your event platform. But pay attention to this: Ticketmaster’s 2024 data breach uncovered 560 million customers and exposed ticket barcodes for virtually every concert held in that year. When hackers attack, they don’t just take information. They break trust.
Putting AI on event platforms just adds to the complexity. Yes, AI can instantly translate sessions and connect attendees with the right content. But it also introduces new avenues for things to fail. Gartner is warning that by 2027, over 40% of AI data breaches will occur because companies are misusing AI tools in various countries. If you organize international events, this is something you should reflect on.
Why AI Makes Security Harder
Consider AI in event management as providing your platform with an ultra-intelligent assistant. This assistant can accomplish great feats, but it must have access to a huge amount of data to function effectively. The catch? Increased access equates to increased risk.
Businesses employing unauthorized AI tools incur $670,000 extra expenses when the breaches occur. At conferences, this could be someone utilizing ChatGPT to respond to questions from visitors or Google Translate for confidential presentations without security screening.
Here’s another one: AI systems tend to operate like “black boxes” where you can’t view how they make decisions, but GDPR regulations mandate you to explain any automated decisions to users. It’s akin to having to explain how a magic trick is done while you’re still doing it.
Example in Practice: Imagine attending a medical conference with AI interpreting doctor presentations in real-time. Without security, patient data would leak out via insecure translation services. That’s why Snapsight processes all translations in secure settings and monitors every motion of data. No exceptions, no shortcuts.
Zero Trust: Never Assume, Always Verify
Zero trust sounds brutal, but it’s really intelligent. Rather than trusting everybody within your environment, you verify everyone, every time. Imagine verifying IDs at every door of your venue, not only the front door.
Currently, 61-63% of organizations are applying zero trust security, but only 10% will have truly solid programs in place by 2026. Zero trust, for event platforms, translates to:
- Checking identity every time someone logs in
- Giving people access only to what they need
- Watching all activity on your platform
- Keeping different types of data separated
Understanding Compliance Rules
New regulations continue to arrive, and they’re becoming more stringent. The EU AI Act is the globe’s first comprehensive AI legislation, and it grades AI systems based on how dangerous they are. If your event platform employs AI in matching attendees or suggesting sessions, you need to detail all about how that happens.
GDPR becomes more complex when you throw AI into the mix. Every means by which you use AI must have a legal basis under GDPR regulations. Here’s what that looks like in English:
- Keep on course: You can’t take data gathered for registration and turn it around for marketing
- Only take what you require: If you just need to check age, don’t take birthday details
- Ask for permission simply: Ask attendees if they want their data used by AI features
- Explain the choice: When AI makes a decision about an attendee, they can request why
The best part? New technology such as Drata and Vanta allows businesses to remain compliant without doing it all themselves. They are like a compliance sidekick that never gets tired.
Simple Steps to Better Security
By 2024, AI technology will automatically detect 70% of personal data in your systems. But you still require layers of defense, such as wearing a belt and suspenders.
Begin with these essentials that really count:
Lock down your cloud storage. 72% of breaches involved cloud data, with 30% spread across multiple systems. Every place you store data needs protection.
Control who sees what. Marketing shouldn’t see payment details. Finance shouldn’t see health information. It’s that simple. Snapsight does this automatically with role-based access. Owners see everything, Editors manage content, and Viewers only see what they’re allowed to see.
Check your vendors. When Snowflake got hacked, it affected huge companies like Ticketmaster. Every company you work with is a potential weak link. Ask them about their security before problems happen.
Train your team. The fanciest security tools won’t help if someone falls for a phishing email. Regular training beats expensive fixes.
Key Takeaways
- Implement zero trust security: authenticate everyone, every time, no exceptions
- Capture how your AI determines decisions to comply with GDPR and emerging AI laws Automate checking compliance but have humans oversee major decisions
- Vet your vendors’ security as vigilantly as your own
- Opt for platforms that support many compliance rules in parallel
Want to see this in action? Snapsight’s AI-driven audience experience integrates security into every aspect. Our smart event data visualization solutions illustrate precisely how AI handles your data while maintaining GDPR compliance. Schedule a demo to discover how AI-driven event analytics can provide insights without compromising attendee privacy.
