Yesterday was Data Privacy Day. It is hard to say when tipping points occur, but the combination of the NSA revelations and the sophistication of the recent Target thefts have me thinking a lot more about this issue than I did as recently as 12 months ago.
Data Privacy Day is an international holiday that occurs every January 28. The purpose of Data Privacy Day is to raise awareness and promote data privacy education. It is currently celebrated in the U.S., Canada, and 27 European countries. In Europe, the holiday is referred to as Data Protection Day. (source: Wikipedia)
According to the official press release from the National Cyber Security Alliance:
“Data Privacy Day strives to educate the world about data privacy protection through its universal theme: Respecting Privacy, Safeguarding Data, and Enabling Trust. The global effort is made successful through a flood of activities from more than 140 supporting organizations and individuals across the globe. Plans to celebrate Data Privacy Day have been made in numerous countries including Australia, Japan, India, Belgium and Canada. While here in the U.S., many colleges and universities, businesses, and community organizations will celebrate Data Privacy Day in their own unique ways.”
Top 10 Strategies for Protecting Data At Your Company
To celebrate Data Privacy Day, Jay Livens, director of product and solutions marketing at Iron Mountain, has compiled a checklist of top 10 strategies for businesses who want to keep their information safe and from getting into the wrong hands. Take a look:
- Encryption is key. Make sure all of your data is encrypted – whether it’s information you keep in digital storage, tape, or on your employees’ mobile devices. Wherever there is sensitive information, there should also be encryption.
- Manage Mobile Devices. The ever-mobile employee of today can have a lot of sensitive information on their phones and tablets. Make sure you have a mobile device management solution or policy in place to protect those devices, whether corporate or employee-owned.
- Out with the Old. Ensure that comprehensive corporate policy accounts for the secure destruction of old and sensitive company, employee, and customer information.
- Store Smart. You should always know how your information is secured – whether it’s in the cloud, in a data center, or housed locally.
- Plan Ahead. Make sure you have an end-of-life plan in place for assets you no longer need or that will be destroyed. People tend to hold on to information for longer than they need. Make sure you dispose of IT assets in a safe and consistent manner to protect from a potential data breach.
- Password Protect. Use complex passwords, change them frequently, and use two-factor authentication whenever possible.
- Virus Protection. It seems like a no-brainer, but keeping up-to-date with virus protection is a great way to keep data safe.
- Don’t Forget Firewalls. Firewalls and intrusion detection are also a key piece of the data privacy puzzle.
- Privacy is the Best Policy. Create an enterprise-wide policy to protect private information from unauthorized access or inadvertent disclosure.
- Education Nation. Properly train your employees to treat information appropriately, and make sure everyone is up to speed on the latest policies and procedures.
Data From a Recent Iron Mountain Survey
Recently, Iron Mountain conducted a survey of IT professionals on how organizations will protect data in 2014 and beyond. Here are the top-level highlights:
- Data loss ranks as the number one concern of IT leaders: With 68 percent probability, the report shows that data loss and privacy breaches are the most prevalent concern for IT leaders over the next 12-18 months.
- Managing increased data volumes will continue to overwhelm organizations: There is a 77 percent likelihood that the rising tide of data will remain the greatest challenge facing IT organizations. Contributing to the issue is that many enterprises have data stored on various technologies, making access to this data a concern as these organizations work to meet growing archiving requirements.
- Backup tape is still an attractive storage option: Respondents indicated with a 62 percent confidence level that IT organizations are grappling with limited funding for aligning data growth and data protection. At the same time, tape’s low total cost of ownership (TCO) makes it an attractive factor for its role in a hybrid backup strategy.
