24By7Security, Inc. Celebrates Data Privacy Day as Champions!
Happy Data Privacy Day! You may be wondering why January 28? Because on January 28, 1981, Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty concerning privacy and data protection was signed. Data Privacy Day is known in Europe as Data Protection Day and is now an international holiday celebrated every year on January 28th. Europe began celebrating this holiday first in 2007 and the United States joined in 2009.
The Data Privacy Day campaign led by Stay Safe Online shares valuable information about data privacy and protection for individuals and companies alike. An all-day live stream event hosted by LinkedIn last year featured leading experts, companies like CNN, AdWeek, and Bloomberg TV who discussed hot topics relating to data privacy. This media event resulted in a huge leap in the number of organizations participating in Data Privacy Day. The number of Privacy Day Champions increased in 2018 to 595 while double the news stories and 32% more social mentions used hashtags #PrivacyAware and #DataPrivacyDay.
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During October, we shared tips regarding Cybersecurity Awareness as Stop. Think. Connect. Partners and Champions. Now we are proud to announce that we are also Privacy-Aware Champions! Demonstrate your dedication to protecting data privacy by becoming a partner, join the campaign! Provide your employees with training to explain how they can assist in protecting your online presence. |
How can you Respect Privacy, Safeguard Data, and Enable trust?
Take steps to respect online privacy by taking note of your online activities. Keep in mind that online activities are monitored using your IP address, so your Internet service provider maintains logs of your activities online. As an employer, you probably monitor your network and usage in the workplace. Your online behavior likely includes providing personal information through forms online which then becomes information that can be sold or traded without your consent. Then of course there is the threat of online hackers stealing your data.
Take an active role in safeguarding your personal data by installing anti-virus and anti-malware software on each of your devices. As a company owner, provide these safeguards on each of your workstations and servers. Consider using a virtual private network, as an extra layer of protection for your online activities. Always follow email security rules and especially use encryption if your company uses email to exchange personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI). Only use secure shopping sites when entering your PII online.
By not only taking an active role in your own online activities but also sharing this information with your employees you are building a network of trust within your organization. When your company embraces these privacy measures, you also demonstrate your trustworthiness with your customers. Encourage your customers to get involved in Data Privacy Day as well! Share these tips and examples of how you employ them within your own organization.
Here are 4 tips to protect your data and maintain privacy:
Privacy is good for business! Every business should have a privacy policy and controls to protect customer data.
What we do: 24By7Security, Inc. has our privacy policy posted on our website check it out: https://www.24by7security.com/privacy-policy. We also have our privacy policies outlined in our internal policies and procedures. We protect our sensitive data including customer data by enforcing a clean desk policy. We use a cross-cut shredder for disposing of sensitive paper data and access to our offices is restricted by a security and access control system.
Share with care – The information you share online can potentially be accessed for the duration of your life. Are you sharing messages you will stand by in 10 years? Do you want strangers to associate these images with you? Ask yourself these questions before you share online.
What we do: Our social media presence as a company is managed by expert contractors, all posts are reviewed and approved by management prior to publishing. Our marketing team works together to create content of value to our potential customers and to ensure that content is of the highest quality.
Value personal data like money! Exercise caution when using public or open wi-fi networks. Your login credentials and personal details can be compromised in these unsecured environments. Implement two-factor authentication to protect your credentials and use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt your data especially while using public or open wi-fi networks.
What we do: We have a secure network which is set up and maintained by our IT department. Our services prompt new credentials every 90 days to protect our employees' login credentials. Employees also use a VPN while connected to any public or unsecured wi-fi networks.
Lockdown your login! Use unique usernames and passwords for each website you access like email, banking, and social media. Always use the strongest authentication tool available to protect your login.
What we do: We recommend to our customers the same policies as we keep in our offices. Our employees do not write down passwords or use the same credentials to access multiple sites.
I hope your company is planning a wonderful Data Privacy Day celebration! You should be planning and discussing conducting a thorough risk assessment to evaluate data privacy and security, reviewing your policies and procedures to ensure that they are up to date. Don't forget to schedule security and privacy awareness training for you and your employees as soon as possible. This training could help detect a cyber attack or even may help prevent a data breach.
