If you’ve been following us for any amount of time, you know that one of our primary goals is to help companies and individuals embrace best practices around digital security.

In that same vein, we join with others worldwide on January 28, 2021to observe Data Privacy Day.

Led by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), Data Privacy Day began in the United States and Canada in January 2008 as an extension of the Data Protection Day celebration in Europe.

Observed annually on January 28, Data Protection Day commemorates the Jan. 28, 1981, signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection.

As we all come together to spread more awareness and education around this important topic, here are 5 tips to help your company internalize best security practices. 

1: Create A #PrivacyAware Culture

Get leadership involved. Deputize privacy ambassadors. Create a privacy awareness campaign where you educate employees on your company privacy policy. Share messages about privacy around the office, on internal message boards, in company newsletters, or emails. Teach new employees their role in your privacy culture and reinforce throughout their career. 

2: Organize A Privacy Awareness Training

Invite outside speakers to talk to employees about why privacy matters. Engage staff by asking them to consider how privacy and data security applies to the work they do on a daily basis. Invite your employees to join NCSA’s virtual Data Privacy Day event on January 28! 

3: Help Employees Manage Their Individual Privacy

Better security and privacy behaviors at home will translate to better security and privacy practices at work. Teach employees how to update their privacy and security settings on personal accounts.

Need some help? Use NCSA’s privacy settings page as a resource: Manage Your Privacy Settings 

4: Add Privacy To The Employee’s Toolbox

Give your employees actual tools they can use to improve their privacy, such as company-branded camera covers or privacy screens for their devices, or virtual private networks (VPNs) to secure their connections.

5: Let The Experts Handle It

Most employees aren’t privacy or security experts, so build in mechanisms for making it easy for them to report privacy or security concerns to your internal or external experts. 

For more information about Data Privacy Day and how to get involved visit: staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day

If you’re interested in an expert consultation about your company’s security practices, contact us right now to get started.