As the number of people using the Internet has grown, data privacy is more and more important. Websites, software, and social media platforms frequently collect and store personal data about users to deliver personalized content and suggestions.
Additionally, some platforms and applications may go beyond users’ expectations regarding data collection and utilization, leaving them with compromised privacy than they anticipated. On the other hand, some may not have enough controls to protect the data they gather, resulting in a data breach, thus compromising users’ privacy.
Thus, we’ll look at why data privacy matters and its relation to security. After that, we’ll look at how we can continue to raise data privacy awareness beyond data privacy week.
What Is Data Privacy?
Data privacy, also known as information privacy, is a subset of data security that focuses on adequately handling data, including consent, notification, and regulatory requirements. Practical data privacy matters frequently focus on the following:
1. Whether the collected data is shared with third parties, and if so, how is it shared?
2. How is data acquired and/ or stored legally?
3. GDPR, HIPAA, or the CCPA are regulatory data limits that organizations need to stay compliant with to operate.
In a nutshell, data privacy refers to treating (collecting and storing) all data relating to a person’s identification with the utmost confidentiality and anonymity.
What Are The Different Types Of Data?
To understand data privacy, we should define data types that need to be secured. Here are some examples of information that is widely regarded as sensitive by the general public as well as by legal mandates:
1. Personally identifiable information (PII) can be used to identify, contact, or find a specific person or to differentiate one person from another
2. Personally identifiable financial information (PIFI) can be credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and other financial data.
3. Personal health information (PHI), which includes medical history, insurance information, and other private data gathered by healthcare providers and potentially linked to a specific person
4. And finally, a student’s record, including grades, transcripts, class schedules, billing information, and other educational documents.
Privacy Matters
Balancing the necessity to use personal data for business objectives and an individual’s right to data privacy isn’t easy. Data privacy is a primary societal concern in the digital era, in part because data breaches continue to expose millions of people’s personal information. Moreover, even a single data breach can have significant consequences: individuals may be subjected to identity theft or blackmail, while businesses may face financial losses as well as a loss of public, investor, and consumers’ trust. So privacy matters, and it’s not an afterthought but a mandate.
Link Between Data Security And Data Privacy
Simply defined, data protection is the driving factor behind an individual’s right to data privacy.
Firms and governments often infringe or compromise consumers’ privacy despite increased awareness of privacy matters and recent gains in data privacy legislation and practice. Therefore, some say that customers have already won the privacy battle, but that is not the case, given data breaches are making the headlines every day.
While data protection can exist without data privacy, data privacy cannot live without data protection.
Ensuring data privacy means you’re not the creepy firm that collects all of your customers’ data indiscriminately – whether through passive location monitoring, apps that steal your address book, or websites that record every keystroke.
Information privacy also refers to businesses’ rules to protect their data. Global privacy needs and demands will evolve as additional data protection regulations are enacted worldwide.
Nevertheless, organizations should train employees on data protection regularly to be aware of the protocols and procedures that the workforce must follow, ensuring proper gathering, sharing, and use of sensitive data as part of a data security portfolio.
Nonetheless, the one constant in both concepts is protecting users’ data to ensure that data privacy matters.
Data Privacy Matters, Beyond Data Privacy Week
At Right-Hand Cybersecurity, we believe that data privacy is esential, and that is the core concept for assisting the development of a better Internet. Our products are designed to preserve users’ privacy while also ensuring that they are knowledgeable about data protection policies and laws, assisting organizations in striking a good balance between technological progress and user privacy.
We believe the following are some things that can help drive data privacy awareness beyond just the data privacy week (January 24-28th). While some of these need users’ compliance, most of these are the responsibility of organizations as they tend to safeguard consumer data.
Privacy Awareness Training
Any company must assist its employees in implementing privacy awareness best practices. In addition, organizations should make every effort to provide their staff with the necessary information and skills so that data protection becomes the norm.
Additionally, developing a profound grasp of data privacy awareness in the workforce through high-quality training content and activities that investigate major data security trends; thus, keeping employees up to date on laws and regulations and why privacy matters.
Data Privacy Tools And Resources
Organizations should always keep the best communication strategy in mind while planning a data privacy awareness campaign. After that, they should think about adding the necessary tools to engage audiences while encouraging successful employee collaborations.
Awareness modules should be structured to assist the workforce in planning, educating, reinforcing learning, enhancing information retention, and behavior change. Organizations may go beyond data privacy week and become transparent regarding data security and privacy in this way, showing that privacy matters beyond words.
Data Privacy Best Practices
Data Privacy will be at the forefront in 2022, with the enactment of the CCPA (California Customer Protection Act) and the ever-evolving Covid-19 pandemic. It will remain a significant challenge that organizations must face head-on as how the world works continue to change.
As a result, organizations must ensure that data security and privacy are aligned, least privilege access is used to limit sensitive data access, and automation at scale is done utilizing sophisticated technologies. Finally, proper education and awareness are the keys to achieving an optimal balance between technology and users’ privacy.
Privacy Matters at Home Too
Does your staff realize that they can keep their data safe from third parties and unauthorized access by making a few easy adjustments to their devices and accounts? Yes, they can maintain data security and protect their (and organizations’) privacy from unauthorized information access.
It’s as simple as using strong passwords, securing online accounts, protecting web browsers by blocking unwanted ads, using stringent antivirus protection, and keeping an eye on your privacy and security settings. See, it’s that simple – the gap is in the awareness. People just don’t know it’s this simple yet.
Data Protection Tips
In an ultra-connected, always-on world where massive amounts of personal data are handled regularly, it’s critical that people who provide you their data trust you. Furthermore, your audience should trust that the data they provide won’t end up in the wrong hands, i.e., dangers ranging from phishing attempts on financial institutions to ransomware threats to cloud-based services.
This is especially true since the European Union implemented the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Therefore, organizations should begin employing strong encryptions and multiple backups, prioritize staff training, limit data usage, establish crisis resilience, and, most importantly, start trashing users’ data that is no longer needed.
Final Words
Privacy is a fundamental right. Data privacy is such an important aspect. It should be a subject for more than a week. You should know how your data is saved and used and not share unnecessary information.
Data privacy is perhaps much more vital as a business. Noncompliance with legal obligations on how you collect, store, and treat personal data could result in a substantial fine. Furthermore, losing revenue and client trust may be significantly severe. If your company falls victim to a cyberattack, never forget to keep data privacy in mind.
By the way, did you watch our webinar with Zamaan Qureshi to discover what data Facebook collects and maintains about its users and how to improve your privacy on social media? Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest news! Do it now if you haven’t.
