The Data Privacy Day is a vision to celebrate the importance of privacy, focusing on protecting personal information and creating awareness for organizations about how privacy is good for businesses.

In January 2008, the Data Privacy Day was initiated in the US and Canada to extend the Data Protection Day celebration in Europe. The day commemorates 20 January 1981, the day Convention 108 was signed. Convention 108 was the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection.

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) leads the Data Privacy Day in the US. NCSA is a non-profit, public-private partnership focused on cybersecurity education for all online citizens.

In 2021, NCSA is taking the twin-themed approach:

  • It aims to make the individuals focus on “Own Your Privacy” by acquiring more knowledge about protecting data online.
  • It is urging businesses to “Respect Privacy,” which makes organizations responsible for keeping individuals’ information safe from unauthorized access while maintaining fair, relevant, and legitimate data collection and processing.

An increase in the loss of control over personal data makes individuals feel insecure. Implementing specific steps helps to know what kind of data is generated online and how it is collected, shared, processed, and used. Nurturing some basic privacy tips helps manage personal information and rightfully know where the data is being transmitted.

Maintaining privacy at individual level

  • Value proposition equivalent to money – Details of one’s purchase history, account information, IP address, or location has tremendous value to businesses, just like money. Keeping a check on who gets that information and how it’s gathered through apps and websites is essential. Deletion of the unused app and controlling current app permissions reviewing can be a good practice.
  • Sharing with caring – Being vigilant about where the data is transmitted and how it’s collected via apps and websites is a matter of concern. Timely deleting the unused apps and reviewing current app permissions is also essential.
  • Controlling online presence – Keeping the privacy and security settings of websites and apps for information sharing according to the individual comfort level is necessary. Any browser, device, or application uses different features to limit how and with whom the information is shared.
  • Alert about activities – Type of game played, stored contacts, or shopping website addresses, and geographic location information of individuals are the points of concern. Knowing who gets the information and understanding how it is collected through websites and apps is essential.

Maintaining privacy at organization level

  • Secure the collected data – Data breaches lead to great financial loss, along with the defamation of name and trust by customers for any organization. Conducting regular security measures is a must that would keep individuals’ personal information safe against unauthorized access. Personal data collection needs to be processed precisely and is collected for a relevant and legitimate purpose.
  • Implementing a privacy framework – Adopting security measures in businesses by implementing a privacy framework to help manage risk and build up a culture of privacy in any organization is the need of time.
  • Performing data assessment practices – It is important to conduct data assessment practices to help understand privacy laws and regulations applied to any business. Employees should be educated about their and the organization’s obligations to protect personal information.
  • Maintaining transparency helps build trust – Providing information to users about how the data is collected, used, and shared builds trust amongst the user. Incubating measures to explain to users how their data is being used and design such a structure that would protect information by default creates a sense of trust. Display a clear and concise view to the public about what privacy means to the organization and what steps to maintain and achieve privacy.
  • Overtightening partners and vendors – If any other third-party collects or processes data for any organization, it needs to keep track of it. The organization is also responsible for how they collect and use consumer’s personal information.

Emphasizing data privacy regulations –

As organizations are responsible for handling, collecting, and protecting customer data, some new regulatory restrictions have been introduced in the market. Amongst its most notable examples are GDPR in the EU and the CCPA in California.

Formulated in 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) briefs about data privacy and protection in the European Union (EU). It also takes charge of transmitting personal data outside the EU and EEA (European Economic Area) areas.

On the other hand, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides California residents information about the right to know what type of personal data is being collected and sold by companies. The law is also helping create awareness for the residents that they won’t face discrimination for exceeding their privacy rights.

These two regulations mark the significant display of inclination toward data privacy and consumer rights. In a SAS survey, about 67% of US consumers think the government should revise its policies for protecting data privacy.

The newly designed data privacy acts are swift in protecting consumer data in unprecedented ways; individuals and companies still need to learn more about practicing data protection policies.

Bottom line

The Data Privacy Day 2021 comes with an opportunity to remember the importance and the right for data transparency. It’s that time of the year to check how data is collected, shared, and used, and develop various measures that would help keep the valuable data from being exploited, misused, or lost.

To learn more on the topic,  download our latest whitepapers on security and data privacy.