As data is one of the most important assets that businesses possess, maintaining privacy as part of its value adds trust and a competitive advantage. It also safeguards intellectual property and prevents the loss of information that could erode corporate reputation, diminish customer confidence and impact business operations.
The volume of personal data that is created and shared online is staggering. It includes everything from names and dates of birth to medical records, shopping cart items and browsing habits. Every minute spent streaming a video, downloading an app or surfing the web creates thousands to millions of data points. This data is highly valued by organizations, who use it for advertising, analytics and many other purposes. It’s why data privacy is such a critical issue.
While data security focuses on protecting data through encryption, access controls, backups and other technical measures, data privacy centers on how that data is handled, including what it’s used for, what happens to it when it’s no longer needed and more. It’s a complex and ever-changing landscape, with regulations governing how to handle data at the federal, state, province, municipal and industry levels.
For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives EU citizens rights regarding their data while HIPAA outlines rules for healthcare data and other industries have their own laws. These laws often dictate which data is considered private, what steps are required to notify individuals of breaches and legal repercussions for companies that don’t follow them.