Data Protection And Privacy

Data has been called the new oil in terms of its importance as a commodity in the current economy. Protecting and maintaining the privacy of your organization’s data has never been more critical. With so many threats out there, your organization must take action to ensure that you are fully compliant with the data protection laws of the world, such as the GDPR. These data protection laws can become serious issues for your organization in the event of a data breach, driving you into lawsuits that could easily cost you millions of dollars. Financial losses are not the only thing at stake here either. Your reputation as a business that customers can trust will also be tarnished, especially if private customer data was exposed in the breach. This can lead to future losses and increase the difficulty of your recovery. In some countries, individual members of a company can be held responsible for a data breach and even wind up facing sanctions or even jail time.

What is data protection? Although most data analysts are familiar with terms like data availability and data usability, data protection goes beyond these notions and represents the goal of maintaining data permanence (immutability) and preservation. Traditional data protection involves adopting strategies and implementing policies that protect and ensure the availability of data under any and all circumstances. Backing up data is a key element of this. Organizations may opt to back up data to a disaster recovery facility that they own or rely on a cloud backup. Many businesses rely on continuous data protection technology that updates these backups constantly as new data is added or the system changes. This permits organizations to achieve near-instantaneous recovery in the event of a disaster or ransomware attack. Data protection also involves maintaining solid data security through policies and technologies such as encryption, access control, and threat monitoring.

The data privacy GDPR regulation from the European Union is one of the most important laws in this space because it is one of the most stringent data protection regulations ever established, and it is also the first. Several other countries and states have adopted legislation that follows in the footsteps of the GDPR, including Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, and California. This law primarily focuses on protecting and maintaining the privacy of personally identifiable information (PII) data which, if compromised, could lead to other issues such as identity theft.

Data Privacy

Data privacy is a key element within the area of data protection that focuses on maintaining the privacy of sensitive information. This includes both personal data and confidential data such as financial records or intellectual property data. The primary focus of data privacy involves strictly controlling third-party access to data and ensuring that private data is always stored in a safe and secure manner. In connection with this, the concept of data sovereignty has arisen. This term describes data that is subject to the laws of the country in which it is currently being stored. Several jurisdictions have adopted legislation that requires organizations to store personal data within the country that the customer resides. This comes in the wake of a growing demand for cloud-based storage and a perceived lack of security and privacy in these storage methods.

Why is data privacy important? In many countries, data privacy is a matter of human rights. The principle is that a person should be able to determine for themselves what happens to their data and how it is used. In fact, one of the stated goals of the GDPR regulation is to “empower individuals and give them control over their personal data.” Some of the highest-profile data privacy issues have occurred as a result of companies failing to take their obligations to maintain user privacy seriously. If personal data is compromised, user identities could be stolen, individuals could be harassed or defrauded, and this information could wind up being sold to the highest bidder on the dark web.

When it comes to data privacy in cyber security, there are several things that companies can do to ensure their compliance. One of the most common ways for data to be exposed is through a data breach. This is why vulnerability assessments and security training is vital in order to maintain data privacy.

Data Protection And Privacy Issues

What are privacy issues? There are several data privacy issues being analyzed and discussed currently in this space. One of these is the rapid growth of data. Research now shows that nearly 2 megabytes of new data are created every single second. This includes personal customer information. Maintaining the privacy of data that is growing this fast is rapidly becoming one of the biggest concerns in this industry. Another one of the major data protection and privacy issues is security threats, especially ransomware. Ransomware is an attack on a company network that often starts through a successful phishing attempt.

Once the attackers have the access they need, they will then load malware into the company network and seize all data, preventing your organization from accessing it. Several ransomware attacks have attached the threat of complete data exposure if the victim did not pay out the ransom. This underlines the importance of running regular phishing training campaigns. You are only as strong as your weakest link. In most security programs, the weakest link is the human employee, as it is still far easier to trick a human than a machine. However, if you harden your defenses through solid phishing protection, you can help mitigate this issue.

There are several types of data protection activities and technologies that your organization can implement. These include data security measures such as access controls, including mandatory login entry and multi-factor authentication. A strong strategy for backing up your data is also vital. A third type of data protection is data erasure which focuses on ensuring that deleted data is completely unrecoverable and is therefore protected against falling into the wrong hands at a later date.

Why is data protection important? Not only can data breaches cost your organization millions of dollars in damages and tarnish your reputation, but they can also result in the exposure of sensitive trade secrets and data that is vital to your organization’s ability to remain competitive.

Difference Between Data Protection And Privacy

Although data privacy can be considered a subset of data protection, there is a difference between data protection and privacy. Data privacy focuses more on the use and regulations surrounding personal data, while data protection focuses on keeping data safe from attacks or compromise due to disasters. Generally, data privacy focuses on the regulations and governance requirements that define who has access to data. This would be the category that the typical data protection and privacy law resides in. This is different from data protection which is primarily concerned with the specific tools and policies to restrict access to the data. Another way to describe the difference is that data privacy focuses on who customer data is shared with and how it is shared, while data protection focuses on keeping all kinds of data safe from everyone but the rightful owner. There are 5 methods of protecting data:

• Data Encryption
• Data Backups
• Password Protection
• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software

There are many other methods that you can use, but these 5 are some of the most common. The importance of data protection truly cannot be overstated. Your organization needs to be using all the major types of data protection methodologies and technologies to ensure that both data privacy and data protection are maintained.

Data Protection Act

Another important regulation to be aware of in the data protection and privacy laws space is the Data Protection Act of 2018. This data privacy law was put into force in the United Kingdom as a direct result of the country’s decision to exit the European Union. Simply put, the Data Protection act extends all of the data protections, rights, and regulations found within the GDPR to the United Kingdom. This is just one example of a privacy and data protection law. Such laws are to be found all over the world. In the United States, each state has different laws regarding data privacy. You can learn more about these laws by heading here to see the data privacy laws by state.

Ultimately, having a strong cybersecurity posture is one of the best ways to maintain your data protection and data privacy. However, achieving this on your own can be next to impossible. That’s why you need a customizable package of services and software tools that are easy to use and implement. That package is the Trava Security platform. We have all the features you need to run vulnerability assessments and close up any data privacy or protection gaps. Furthermore, our vCISO services can work with you as a partner to help you achieve your compliance goals across a wide variety of data protection and privacy regulations.