X' PLORICA: DATA PRIVACY DAY

Data Privacy Day (known in Europe as Data Protection Day) is an International Day that is observed every 28 January. The purpose of Data Privacy Day is to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices. It is currently observed in the United States, Canada, India and 47 European countries.

Data Privacy Day's educational initiative originally focused on raising awareness among businesses as well as users about the importance of protecting the privacy of their personal information online, particularly in the context of social networking. The educational focus has expanded over the past four years to include families, consumers and businesses. In addition to its educational initiative, Data Privacy Day promotes events and activities that stimulate the development of technology tools that promote individual control over personally identifiable information; encourage compliance with privacy laws and regulations; and create dialogues among stakeholders interested in advancing data protection and privacy. The international celebration offers many opportunities for collaboration among governments, industry, academia, nonprofits, privacy professionals and educators.

The Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data was opened for signature by the Council of Europe on January 28, 1981. This convention is currently in the process of being updated in order to reflect new legal challenges caused by technological development. The Convention on Cyber crime is also protecting the integrity of data systems and thus of privacy in cyberspace. Privacy including data protection is also protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The day was initiated by the Council of Europe to be first held in 2007 as the European Data Protection Day. Two years later, on January 26, 2009, the United States House of Representatives passed House Resolution HR 31 by a vote of 402–0, declaring January 28 National Data Privacy Day. On January 28, 2009, the Senate passed Senate Resolution 25 also recognizing January 28, 2009 as National Data Privacy Day. The United States Senate also recognized Data Privacy Day in 2010 and in 2011.

In response to the increasing levels of data breaches and the global importance of privacy and data security, in 2009 the Online Trust Alliance (OTA) and dozens of global organizations embraced Data Privacy Day as Data Privacy & Protection Day, emphasizing the need to look at the long-term impact to consumers of data collection, use and protection practices. Other organizations including the National Cyber Security Alliance work to coordinate Data Privacy Day activities in the U.S.

With new data breaches emerging daily, organizations should work together with employees and provide actionable tips and recommendations for improved data protection.

Tip 1: Just because you can’t see files on your desktop/laptop computer doesn’t mean they’re gone.

When you drag files to the recycle bin on your computer and/or reformat your hard drive, the data isn’t really gone. Imagine your hard drive is like a library. To find the book you want, you get a reference number from the library’s database – and that leads you to the section of the library where the book can be physically found. But the book still remains in the library and it just becomes a case of using more sophisticated methods to locate it. Secure erasure of your files is the best way to make sure your data is truly destroyed.

Tip 2: Beware of what you’re syncing.

How often do you charge your personal smartphone by plugging a USB cord into your company laptop? How often do you charge your work phone by plugging a USB cord into your personal laptop? Chances are, you do this multiple times a day. Once connected, a lot of devices begin automatically syncing without notice and transferring files between the two. If you’re plugging devices into one another, beware of which files you may be transferring because sensitive information like photos, emails, contacts, usernames and passwords could be hacked and eventually leaked.

Tip 3: Formatting removable media (i.e. SD cards, USB sticks) isn’t the same as erasing data.

External SD cards make it easy and efficient to transfer data from device to another. But it also increases the chances of sensitive information being leaked. Why? Emails, contacts, photos, videos and other files can be saved on the SD card instead of the device itself. So if the SD card is lost or stolen, it can be easily transferred to another device. And formatting removable flash media, such as USB sticks and SD cards, doesn’t actually erase the data forever. So all of those emails, photos, videos and other sensitive files could very well come back to haunt you. To securely erase an external SD card so that the data can never resurface – you first have to remove the SD card and insert it into a computer, which can correctly detect all of its sectors and run software to securely erase everything.

Tip 4: If your smartphone is undergoing repairs, don’t forget to erase data from a loaner device.

Are you experiencing issues with your mobile device? Have you taken your device into the retail store of your carrier or device manufacturer to have it tested and repaired? If this happens, you might be given a temporary “loaner phone” to use until your own phone is fixed, which could take about one week or possibly longer.

In the meantime, you’ve probably been using the loaner phone to save new contacts, photos and videos, as well as send emails from your work email account. But when it’s time to get your own phone back and return the loaner device, make sure all of that data has been permanently erased. And remember, if you have an Android device, a factory reset doesn’t properly erase the data and leaves it exposed and potentially accessible to the next person who uses the loaner device.

Tip 5: When you close an account with a business or website, ask for proof.

When the personal information of over 32 million registered users of dating website Ashley Madison were leaked, the consequences were much more profound. What really stood out in this case was the underlying cause – users had paid for the site’s $20 “Full Delete” program with the understanding that their information would be removed completely from the site. But that didn’t actually happen and users had their data resurface. The lesson here is to always ask for proof that your data has been permanently erased from all locations where it’s being stored.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardstiennon/2017/01/26/data-privacy-day-easy-tips-to-protect-your-privacy/2/#1a4728bc5dc0