January 28
Data Privacy Day is securely locked in each year on 28 January.
In an increasingly interconnected world, safeguarding our digital footprint becomes paramount. Cherishing personal information ensures trust, security, and peace of mind for all.
Most people are unaware of and uninformed about how their personal information is being used, collected or shared in our digital society. Data Privacy Day aims to inspire dialogue and empower individuals and companies to take action.
This year’s Data Privacy Day theme, “
Take control of your data” reminds us that protecting data online should be a priority for both individuals and organisations.
Our online habits create a profile of us, and no matter how much we try to restrict it, we can’t control every bit of information companies and organisations collect.
This information could include our health data, location details and even purchasing preferences.
Based on this data, companies and organisations can assume things about us like where we live and how much we earn. Sometimes this information can be sold to other companies.
As the line between our offline and online lives continues to blur, Data Privacy Day on January 28 is the little nudge we need at the beginning of each new year to make safeguarding our personal information a priority. Although we live in an increasingly digital world, most of us give little thought to data privacy until after our personal data has been compromised.
Our increased reliance on digital technologies to manage every facet of life necessitates the need to rethink what we share about ourselves, when and where we share it, and who we are sharing it with.
Data privacy is not the same thing as data security, although the two are intimately connected and intertwined. The analogy we like best that helps understand the difference describes data security like putting bars on windows to make it difficult for someone to burglarize your home. Data privacy is more like pulling down the window shades so no one can look inside to see what you are wearing, who lives with you, what you are cooking for dinner tonight, or what movie you are watching.
As end-users on the technology spectrum, few among us pay attention to data privacy beyond knowing not to share our passwords with anyone. We trust software and data services providers to be the guardians of the personal data they collect and require from us in exchange for the right to use their products and services. But the personal information collected by companies today is not regarded as private by default, with few exceptions.
The unpleasant truth is that most people who have access to our personal data do not need it. These digital strangers with legitimate access to our personal data are the very people we should be preventing from accessing our personal information because they do not need it. Data Privacy Day is an important wake-up call for anyone who is ‘on the grid,’ meaning, they use any type of digital device for any reason, and thinks having spam software and firewalls are keeping their data safe.
Data Privacy Day reminds us to treat personal information like money. It has value and we need to protect it as if our lives depended on it because sometimes, they do.
It’s never too late to control our data privacy. First and foremost, if we are not already diligently safeguarding our personal information, our mission, today, should we decide to accept it — and we should, is to begin taking data privacy seriously. Make the commitment today to learn one new thing each day about data privacy and then take the steps necessary to ensure the privacy of our personal information.
Take time today to research how all the digital devices connected to our personal “Internet of Things'' interconnect with each other and with the vast digital universe. This includes our smartphone, modems, TVs, cars, refrigerators, home heating and air conditioning systems, smoke alarms, baby monitors, and home alarm systems. All these digital devices make life easier to synchronize on our personal ‘internet of me.’
And how? Make sure your computer and mobile devices are running the latest version of operating systems and software. Regularly review and update your web browser’s privacy preferences, delete any cookies, and clear the cache. We each should create different passwords for each of our online accounts.
And we need to protect ourselves: Shred hard (paper) copies of invoices, financial records, tax documents, legal papers, magazine labels, envelopes, purchase receipts — any paper that has any information about you, because not all data thieves work on the internet. Hack before you get hacked, so to speak.
Fun Fact about Data Privacy:
- Nearly 80% of public domain data is analysed by enterprises. We will all be bombarded, either way.
- It’s very easy to contract a computer virus. Just turn on the computer and wait.
- By the time you finish reading this, another cyber-attack will have occurred and another one will have begun. The cycle never ends.
“Passwords are like underwear: change them often”
“Two-factor authentication walked into a bar… it needed verification”
“Software updates are like punchlines… timely”
“All parents know what a VPN is. It’s a Very Private Nap”
