By Samantha Green (February 12, 2018, 11:59 AM EST) -- Thanks to better technology and the advent of the cloud, it is increasingly difficult for data to only live within an individual country's geographic borders. Alongside the mass collection of data comes culture differences on how it should be handled, secured and shared. With so much at stake and new privacy laws enacted each year, a single pool of data can often be governed by the laws of multiple countries. With mass globalization, more and more of these laws procured by each country need to be followed. In terms of compliance, multinational corporations operating in Asian and Pacific countries, which are some of the largest holders of data, will soon be saddled with not only the cumbersome laws enacted by China, Japan and Singapore, where many transactions take place in Asia, but also will likely need to comply with the European Union's new privacy directive. Any company that holds data of EU citizens, whether as consumers or business partners, will be required to improve their data privacy and security protocols to continue doing business with that part of the world. Navigating through all the laws can be an expensive endeavor, but noncompliance comes with massive risk. Monetary fines can bankrupt a company, and many businesses never recover from the tarnished brand image....