Data privacy is something that hardly matters to the company.
Do you think it’s the same today, with the rapid expansion of data generation?
Practically not! So many changes have emerged along with it in the digital ecosystem.
If you are running out of time, save this ebook on data privacy and have a quick read later.
Hence, data security and privacy issues are something that is stressing the government to practice personal data protection and privacy laws.
Thus, firms are under immense pressure to take data privacy as the primary factor in conducting their business operations.
However, it’s still something a long way to achieve. Some people are still unaware of data privacy and in confusion whom to trust while sharing their data.
79% of attendees said they are very less likely to be concerned about how firms are using their information. (Source: Pewresearch)
46% of consumers believe they’ve lost control of their details. (Source: Salesforce)
Some firms are still struggling to exhibit data security and privacy compliance and showing clarity in the manner they’re handling privacy.
Do you have any clue why it has become a challenging factor for companies to understand data privacy regulations?
As a matter of fact, you can’t come up with a single reason for it.
Here in this article, we focused on some points that make you clear with the privacy concepts:
What is Data Privacy?
What Type of Data is Included in Data Privacy?
Why is Data Privacy Important?
What are the Benefits Associated with Privacy Regulations?
Problems with Providing Privacy
Examples of Privacy Risks
Emerging Changes in Privacy Law
Privacy Best Practices for Companies
Getting Ready for the Future of Data Privacy
Let’s get started!
What is Data Privacy?
Firstly, Data Privacy is a branch of data security involved in the proper handling of information based on its significance-
Consent,
Notice,
Regulatory obligations,
And also about the public expectation of privacy.
Most probably, it revolves around:
Whether to share or not the data with the third-parties.
How is it legally collected and shared?
Adhering to the compliance and laws limits such as- GDPR, HIPAA, GLBA, CCPA, COPPA, ECPA, VPPA, and so on. All these laws have their own rules and legislation pertaining to a specific area, purpose, and type of companies or individuals.
To put it another way, it’s also referred to as information privacy that clearly means to protect personally identifiable information(PII) about an individual.
To clear, PII includes-
Name,
Address,
Contact details,
Date of birth,
Besides this other personal information such as an-
IP address,
Ad id,
Profile photo,
Social networking post,
And many based on regulatory compliance.
It helps the companies to specify the process of handling individual data according to them.
Due to this, companies started taking consent from the individual using a consent management platform. It’s something that customers expect from companies.
Here we want to be transparent with you that personal data protection and privacy are different.
However, they have some similarities, and mostly they are used interchangeably.
Let’s put a light on it-
How are Privacy and Data Protection Related to Each Other?
Firstly, focus on this statement-
“You can’t have privacy without data protection, while you can have data protection without data privacy.”
Let us explain you with an example-
Your individual data privacy is secured until a particular technology protects it.
Why is privacy important? If someone steals your data, then you can’t ensure privacy. Vice versa is not possible here; that is, you can have data protection without data privacy.
Let’s check-out here how companies are practicing data protection and privacy in their business processes.
Consider a data-driven marketing company Digitalkites, provides data protection to the customer by default as the core functionality of their processing systems and services. And it accurately defines the data privacy policies to their clients where and why they are making use of their data.
To illustrate more, Individual data privacy refers to enabling your users to make preferences of their own.
Finally, data protection focuses on keeping data safe from unauthorized access.
In another way, data protection is a technical issue, while privacy is a legal one.
Type of Data Included
Certainly, every individual data is sensitive and can be used by any third-party for malicious purposes.
So, companies must pay special attention to which type of data to use and in what way.
These data types include the following:
Demographic and Geographic Records:
Sharing of address, names, contact details, to unknown persons can be a potential risk and require security.
Online :
The information which individuals share while generating their social profiles and interacting with people. Most of the sites include rules of using users’ data in their privacy policies.
Financial:
Financial information related to bank accounts, credit cards either in online or offline mode is sensitive as frauds can use it.
Medical:
In order to safeguard patient personal health information (PHI) and not to disclose to a third-party. There are strict rules concerned with the sharing of medical records.
Political :
Certainly, the data with a political information is very confidential, failing to protect leads to high-risk.
Why Is Privacy So Important? Let’s Know Here the Importance of Privacy
Firstly, to adhere to the strict policies of how PII is collected, accessed, protected, and erased.
Secondly, the penalties for violating the rules are severe in some thousands of dollars, and it’s different for various types of data breaches on a monthly basis.
Thirdly, most of the business has built its business foundation through its customers’ data. And reaching their privacy expectations is the priority of the company.
Fourthly, privacy is the right of every person to be free from uninvited surveillance.
Finally, save the individual and companies from the theft of data that can cause enormous monetary losses.
“Privacy is the stepping-stone of our freedom; You must have moments of reserve, reflection, intimacy, and solitude,”
Stated by DR. Ann Cavoukian, past information and privacy commissioner of Ontario, Canada.
48% of privacy active respondents started switching companies based on the policies they practiced for data security and privacy. (Source: Salesforce)
64% of respondents believe that privacy is extremely or very important when they opt for buying a computer or smartphone or any other IoT smart home device. (Source : Spreadprivacy)
And this sums up to the urgency of the concept of privacy and to why is the right to privacy important.
Let’s explain to you with various use cases-
When the data breach happens, it may reach the wrong hands, and anything can happen-
Firstly, a breach of company information can make their confidential data open to their rivals.
In addition, a data breaches of government information may lead to disclosing top-secrets of the nation in the hands of the opponent state.
Thirdly, a breach at hospitals can put protected health information(PHI) in the hands of the wrong person who can misuse it.
Also, a breach at schools/colleges could put students PII (Personal Identification Information) in the hands of criminals.
Why is privacy so important? This was not a big deal before. Previously, It was not much concern for companies. Now almost all big brands and SMEs are concerned about data protection and privacy compliance because they are getting ample data daily from their audience.
Most importantly, now, data became one of the sources of generating income for brands.
And for this, they go with the platforms which make income by adhering to the data protection and privacy legislation.
The example of such a platform is Audienceplay.
Benefits Associated with Privacy Regulations:
Certainly, Data protection and privacy have lots of direct or indirect benefits to the companies; let’s specify why internet privacy is important:
You can save fines and penalties on certain privacy regulations.
For example– GDPR Data security and privacy annually penalize the companies 4% of its annual global revenue or 20 million euros, whichever is high for violating the data security and privacy regulations.
GDPR data protection and privacy policies not only safeguard the data but also share data upon request of the companies.
It helps companies to save extra costs.
70% of companies aphorism that they achieved major business benefits from privacy. (Source: Cisco)
97% of firms experiencing a competitive advantage or investor requests from their privacy investments. (Source: Cisco)
Building trust in customers and other partnering companies when customers or companies know that you’re practicing the data protection and privacy regulations.
As per the Cisco report in 2019, two-third of experiencing a sales delay due to executives stuck at answering privacy related questions from the customers.
Ultimately, companies that understand the importance of privacy are often leading in their category of business.
Problems with Providing Data Privacy
Most people lack in providing proper privacy for their customers.
Firstly, there is a lack of knowledge of distinguishing between sensitive data and normal data.
Secondly, an exponential increase of data in companies leads most of the companies to struggle to build security policies to protect all the data and real-time masking facilities well.
Thirdly, trouble to screen and review data from a central point with outmoded tools and expanded databases.
Examples of Privacy Risks:
To acquire data protection and privacy certification from trusted audit associations such as-
ISO,
HIPAA compliance,
Or SOC II.
A company needs to demonstrate that they prevent privacy risks
Here are some examples of privacy challenges:
Firstly, vulnerabilities in Web Applications
Secondly, individual Data Sharing
Thirdly, insiders and Poorly-Trained Employees
Fourthly, lacking Breach Response
Fifthly, session Expiration Problems
Sixthly, insufficient Personal Data Disposal
Moreover, inaccurate or Outdated Personal Data
Absence of Transparency in Data Protection and Privacy Policies, Terms, and Conditions
Data Transfer Over Insecure Channels
A set of Unnecessary Data
Ultimately, it is about dealing with the Unknown
Emerging Changes in Law
It’s not the new concept which lawmakers have to identify; It was there a long back. But now, with the emerging technologies and people being digitized, it becomes a need of the hour for companies to protect their end-user data.
Data protection and privacy is something a sine qua non to implement in every company.
The companies need to specify which data security and privacy acts and laws affect their users.
By getting awareness of the importance of data protection and privacy, other states are also coming up with similar data security and privacy laws. And they are in a state of experimenting with added data privacy protections.
To conclude,- the regulatory landscape is shifting under our feet.
Look at the chart below, depicting the privacy regulations and acts timeline.
Let’s Move to Best Practices of Data and Privacy for Companies
Here we have jotted down some data security and privacy best practices that companies should bring into play:
Take a Gander at Data Security and Privacy in Detail.
Consider data protection as a complete hazard control issue for the company, and not as something bound to technical experts.
Map your Data.
Get a clear understanding of –
What type of data you have,
Where you have stored it,
Who is providing you that,
Who is responsible for that data—
And similar other details to update yourself with the precise level information of your company data.
Ensure your Practices Keep your Word.
Companies must practice robust data security and privacy policies also be responsible for keeping their promises included in it.
Audit and Update your Practices at Regular Intervals.
The way you plan and collect data, you might not practice in the same way, so you must keep an eye on it often.
Scrutinize your Vendors.
Ensure third-party that gather and process individual data have sensible data security and privacy practices.
Getting Ready for the Future of Data Privacy:
Privacy regulations empower individuals with certain rights such as the right to correct, the right to forgetting, and so on.
And companies are responsible for adhering to these rights within the statutory deadline.
We are going over a period where we are facing changes often in how personal details are used and regulated.
The problem arises because of the incapability of the companies to locate all data or respond to data subject’s requests in time.
To tackle this, the companies need to be in an active state to-
Practice new legislation regarding data and privacy
Changes in regulations and trends
Discover and classify personal data
Understanding marketing issues
Developing policies and Internal controls
Examining compliance needs
And carrying out a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)
Final Thoughts
As an individual, you should be aware that your information is being put away and used by an entire host of companies. Besides, ensure that you don’t share more than you need to. It is the basic right of an individual.
Above all, as a company, it’s quite more significant. You need to meet legal promises about how you-
Collect,
Store,
Process individual information,
And resistance could prompt a heavy fine.
If you fall to a hack, the results could be lost income, lost customer trust even surprisingly more severe.
In order to overcome this, the law requests that you put forth decent confidence to try to give individuals the way to control how their information is used and who access it.
You should clearly supply them with the details to ensure how their information is collected and used. And, you need to make it easy for your customers and users to practice the different rights.
Audienceplay is one of the platforms that is practicing the same and helping the companies to benefit from data.
It generates huge income and many more business benefits from data by adhering to regulatory compliance. You can give it a try!