If you’ve ever been the victim of an identity theft or had personal information stolen or held hostage, then you’ve likely thought about ways to enhance your digital security.
Every year, we receive a reminder to take steps to protect our information on Data Privacy Day.
The “cyber holiday,” held annually on January 28th, officially began in 2008 with observances in the U.S. and Canada. It is now recognized internationally as a commemoration of what is known as Convention 108 – an international treaty that relates to privacy, data and personal information protection.
Data Privacy Day is a day for action and is meant to change the way we think about safeguarding our most vulnerable data. It is more than just changing your email password (although that is part of it). This day is about awareness, of how information can be stolen and what you can do to prevent it. The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is a leader in organizing events and provides a wide variety of ways to get involved with privacy protection practices.
Use Data Privacy Day as an example for every day
While many companies, organizations and individuals participate in Data Privacy Day activities, the goal is to not only spend a day thinking about data privacy, but to continuously implement secure practices.
If you’re looking to increase security for employees, members or anyone who provides personal information while working with you, consider enacting these suggested protections.
- Partner with a PCI-compliant hosting and security provider
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) ensures that companies handling credit card information are compliant with a rigorous set of security standards used to prevent the theft of personal information.
Americaneagle.com is a Level 1 PCI-compliant hosting manager and security provider that uses in-house data centers and a secure infrastructure to enact around-the-clock protection.
While performance and reliability are major components of our hosting services and we will ensure your website is operating smoothly, protection from cyber-attacks is of the utmost importance. As a secure hosting provider, we deploy an assortment of intrusion detection systems for CDN, WAF, DDOS, and bots, closely watching for suspicious and malicious activity that can harm your site and intrude on your personal information.
By working with a reliable partner to prevent viruses, malware and more, you’ll not only be prepared in case of a disaster, but will have tools in place to prevent such an incident in the first place.
- Be cautious of your information and others’
The NCSA offers a comprehensive set of tips and advice for consumers and organizations to protect privacy. For individuals, it’s important to think about how you distribute your information, who sees it and how it’s viewed (e.g. applications and websites that collect information and their permissions.)
Consumers should be wary about their privacy settings, information sharing and other factors like location and purchasing history.
For employers or organizational management, showing employees, members and customers that you will protect their personal information is the only way to maintain trust.
Instilling a set of security measures, being transparent about how you collect, use and share data, and promoting data privacy and oversight over any third-party services are clear ways to show you care about keeping information private.
- Create a data privacy checklist that you regularly revisit
Several data privacy techniques are fairly simple and don’t require a lot of effort. Remembering to actively engage in digital security best practices is where companies often flounder when it comes to privacy protection.
A formalized way to stay up-to-date on security measures is by creating a data privacy checklist. Following these recommendations provides a solid security foundation. It’s best to complete these tasks and return to them often.
- All management and membership should complete security awareness training including email safety, how to safely navigate search, download files and provide registration information. Then, have your teams continue to learn the latest in information protection through continuous cybersecurity education programming throughout the year.
- Generate “strong” passwords, not just new ones. As described in this fun and informative video, solid passwords are made up of a long, random but memorable set of letters, cases, numbers and special characters. You can further enhance password security with multi-factor authentication, the most common being two-factor authentication (2FA). Keep your passwords in a password manager for secure access.
- Always install security updates recommended by IT to ensure that there are no lapses in safety measures like antivirus software, firewall protection, security to your network, cloud, applications and much more.
- Use privacy tools to increase your security culture such as camera covers, privacy screens and virtual private networks. The NCSA offers several recommendations to create a #privacyaware culture in your company or organization.
With a specified checklist, you can show how often you’ve updated your data security plan with a documented process on file. Cybersecurity experts recommend that companies review their information security policies and procedures at least once per year, or more often, when new business requirements come into place.
- Continue to gather privacy resources
One of the greatest ways to celebrate Data Privacy Day is by continuing to learn. If you’re looking to improve your cybersecurity training and want the latest resources, look to any of the following:
- CyberSecure My Business™ provides small and medium-sized businesses around the country with a series of informative and interactive workshops.
- NCSA digital library of Cybersecurity Awareness Resources including continuously updated fact sheets, infographics and videos that center around security topics. It’s also free and non-proprietary.
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) supports a wide a variety of “end users” with various technology initiatives, tools, programs and more, including working with industries to solve problems.
- Electronic Privacy Information Center and numerous other global organizations take interest in data security issues like governmental policy, industry-specific use of data, web access, the right to privacy and more. Each offer information on their latest efforts.
Resource lists should continue to be updated every year to ensure your company’s privacy plan remains relevant.
Make the most out of Data Privacy Security Day in 2021 by partnering with Americaneagle.com for your digital security needs. We’ll help you implement the solutions needed to keep private information safe. Numerous clients have trusted our security specialists for website stability, optimal performance compliance and most importantly, information protection. Contact us today and discover more about what makes us a dependable partner.