At the core of our mission is educating individuals and businesses about the importance of data security.

To further that effort, Cyber Solutions Technologies is a proud NCA Champion for Data Privacy Week.

Every January, the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) coordinates Data Privacy Week. This worldwide effort generates awareness about the importance of privacy, highlights easy ways to protect personal information and reminds organizations that respecting privacy is good for business.

This year, we are encouraging individuals to learn more about how to manage and protect their valuable online data.

We are also encouraging businesses to respect customer data and learn about the responsibility they hold for keeping individuals’ personal information safe from unauthorized access and ensuring fair, relevant, and legitimate data collection and processing. 

Why is data privacy important?

Industry expert Terra Nova Security reports, “Data privacy prioritizes individuals’ rights, as well as how and why data is collected, processed, shared, stored, and deleted per regional or industry regulations.

If sensitive data isn’t secured or if users can’t control how their information is utilized, personal information can be sold to advertisers without their consent.

Worse still, data can be exposed in a data breach and used by hackers to commit malicious activity.”

Time and again, we see breaches that occur due to pure laziness in unsecured data. Doing the right thing, every time will help keep everyone safer online — both individually and corporately.

Learn more by downloading their free toolkit linked above.

How can we take control of our data?

According to a Pew Research Center study, 79% of U.S. adults report being concerned about the way their data is being used by companies.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to influence how consumers interact with businesses online, data collection practices are becoming increasingly unavoidable.

It’s imperative that companies be open and honest about how they collect, use and share consumers’ personal information and communicate their policies clearly and concisely.

Our three hot tips for individuals include:

• Make informed decisions about whether or not to share your data with certain businesses by considering the amount of personal information they are asking for and weighing it against the benefits you may receive in return.

• Be thoughtful about who gets that information and wary of apps or services that require access to information that is not required or relevant for the services they are offering.

• Delete unused apps on your internet-connected devices and keep others secure by performing updates.

We can all work together to make our personal data more secure online.

For more information about Data Privacy Week 2022 and how to get involved, visit https://staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-week/.

If you’re interested in expert advice about your company’s security practices, contact us right now for a free consultation.