Data privacy vs data security: they don’t have the same meaning, but they’re equally important. As a business, you should make sure to have a clear understanding of these two terms and why they are so crucial – from a legal and business perspective.
👀 In this article, we define what data security and privacy are, what differentiates them, and the reasons why they matter.
In the past 10 years, collecting consumer data has become the norm for companies, providing them with unique insights on potential and existing customers, and allowing marketing activities to be more customized, targeted, and efficient (think of ads, emails, etc.)
Privacy concerns quickly arose and called for the need to protect this data and give power back to individuals.
Data privacy is concerned with protecting individuals’ rights to control their own personal information, and decide whether it can be collected, used and shared by companies, or not.
💡 Personal data includes IP address, name, phone number, email address, and many other identifying details. Sensitive information like financial or health records is also covered and even more protected.
Some data privacy measures that were introduced include:
Some important laws and regulations have been put in place for enforcing all of the above. You most likely have already heard of the GDPR in Europe.
Data security, on the other hand, is the practice of protecting data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction.
It applies to the same types of data mentioned before, but sensitive personal information is particularly at risk if exposed, and requires high levels of data security.
💡 Data security is at stake when data breaches (increasingly common in today’s digital age) or sensitive data exposures happen. Consequences are severe, ranging from financial losses to reputational damage and legal liability.
Three types of data security measures include:
As you can understand, data security and data privacy are related concepts, but they are not the same thing!
When we talk about ‘data protection’, we refer to practices, policies, and technologies designed to safeguard personal data from unauthorized access, loss, corruption, or misuse. Basically, the definition of data protection includes both data security and privacy, as shown in the table below.
| Aspect | Data Protection | Data Privacy | Data Security |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Overall management of data safety, privacy, and compliance | Control over personal information and respecting individual rights | Technical and operational defense of data |
| Objective | Ensure data is safe, accurate, and used responsibly | Allow individuals control over how their data is collected, shared, and used | Safeguard data against unauthorized access, breaches, and threats |
| Key Concerns | Legal compliance, responsible data handling, and data security | Data collection, consent, user control, and regulatory compliance | Data confidentiality, integrity, and availability |
| Example Measures | Data governance policies, encryption, access controls | Privacy policies, consent forms, user access controls | Firewalls, encryption, multi-factor authentication, intrusion detection |
Needless to say, data privacy vs data security are crucial in various contexts, especially when collecting personal data as a business. Plus, it’s a win-win situation. Why? Let’s take a look!
Data breaches can create a lot of damage. To individuals first, and businesses alike. There are important financial losses associated with them, as well as a strong influence on reputation. Nothing good comes out of a data breach of millions of financial information!
If you decide to make data privacy at the center of what you do, you can only benefit from it! Customers will be more willing to trust you and potentially agree to the use of their data, to sign up to your newsletter, if they are well-informed and know they can decide at any moment to opt-out. And that they won’t have any bad surprises.
As mentioned before, data privacy laws have been introduced in the past years around the world, and companies had to comply with them and put in place a number of organizational measures.
💡 In practice, this means that a business that has a website must comply with privacy laws if it collects personal data (which it most likely does, considering IP addresses are personal data). Check out this 5-min website compliance guide.
As you can see, it’s always best not to overlook privacy and data security, since it could cost your business’s reputation. Let’s take a look at a few ways in which you can ensure data privacy vs data security in practice.
Use encryption to protect the data you collect from your users. Encryption ensures that, even if data is intercepted, it remains unreadable without the proper decryption key. Of course, remember to store the encryption key safely, and not in the same place as the data.
If your team is made of several people, you can limit access to sensitive data only to employees who need it for their role, using role-based access control and multi-factor authentication.
Create transparent privacy policies that outline how data is collected, used, stored, and shared. Make these policies accessible to customers and employees. You can learn how to write a privacy policy here.
This may sound obvious, but educating your employees is essential to preventing potential data breaches. Cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated, so it’s important to be able to recognize phishing attacks, learn how to secure your devices, and handle sensitive data.
Software companies release security patches frequently, so keep all your software, operating systems, and security applications up to date to protect against the latest security threats.
Unfortunately, data breaches can happen to even the most vigilant. Make sure you have a plan in place to respond to a data breach – including notification procedures, mitigation strategies, and recovery actions.
Data protection laws, such as GDPR or CCPA, put data protection and security at their core. Familiarize yourself with these laws, and ensure your business adheres to them to avoid legal issues and maintain customer trust.
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