BEST CYBERSECURITY PRACTICES: DATA PRIVACY

Featured article by Jessee Christen, Independent Technology Author

In today’s digital age, data collection and sharing have become seamless, fast and inexpensive. Each day, people share increasing amounts of their personal information online, oftentimes unknowingly. This personal data becomes an important asset to numerous companies and government institutions all over the world. Giant organisations such as Google, Amazon, WhatsApp and Facebook have built empires based on people’s data.

Organisations have data from millions of customers, a stream that needs to be kept safe at all times. Data privacy is a huge aspect in the development of companies and governments at large in maintaining data sovereignty in this era where data travels all over the world over borderless networks. Each country has come up with privacy and regulation laws to curb rampant cyber-crimes. Some countries have privacy laws specific to each industry while others have a general coverage where at least one national data protection law applies in addition to other data privacy regulations

Understanding data privacy provides the ability to determine what, how and when personal data can be shared and with whom. Cyber-crimes represent genuine risks to organisations, governments, economies and people. Criminals of the World Wide Web are always seeking to exploit users’ information for their malicious gain. Cybercrimes are at an all-time high, costing companies and governments millions of dollars. Various governments have come up with regulations that help tackle this growing issue and stop criminals from taking advantage of the anonymity of the internet.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) has been a strong state statute regulatory body in the US that addresses privacy rights and consumer protection. These rights apply to all businesses that collect consumers’ data. The businesses are tasked with the responsibility of implementing processes to obtain parental consent for minors and designated methods for submitting data access requests.

Modern-day threats facing various countries in the world are digital in nature. Every country is pursuing cyber-security policies as well as boosting individuals’ awareness to help in this pandemic. Below are 3 basic elements that companies and individuals must adhere to uphold data privacy;

EMPLOY CYBER-SECURITY EXPERT SERVICES

With constant cyber-attacks, data breaches are on the rise and a majority of companies and governments are placing more resources and efforts on data security. Companies that deal with the management of sensitive data are mandated to employ the services of a cyber-security expert to ensure the safety of the data. A cyber-security expert designs and carries out security strategy in the company which involves controlling what data is accessible to users, implementing password authentication and ensuring the safety of valuable data.

BACK-UP ALL INFORMATION

Backing-up of information means storing a copy of the original data elsewhere to minimise loss of data in the event of a cybercrime, system crashes or a breach. Data back-ups should normally be done offline or via the cloud. You don’t have to choose between the two as you can locally store physical backup and well as the cloud. The more places you back-up, the better. Regular data back-ups give an individual peace of mind and save businesses from losing customers and investors.

ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOKOUT

Large companies, as well as small companies, should be well-informed on cyber-security measures. Hackers often target large corporations for the obvious massive gain, however, small companies are quickly becoming more at risk because it’s assumed they have fewer controls hence easier infiltrated. It’s the responsibility of each individual in an organisation to have a proactive attitude towards data security. Companies source the internet from trustworthy suppliers to safeguard online passwords and PINS. Regular software updates of antivirus, network interruption discovery tools, windows will help companies keep abreast with the latest security features.