Data makes the world go round. You probably aren’t even aware how many applications and organizations access your data just from your phone or by visiting a website. While organizations are required to protect your data and are not permitted to share that data, this doesn’t always happen. That’s why data privacy exists, to protect individuals from unauthorized access and misuse of their personal information. Here are five reasons why data privacy is important.
- Protection of personal information – Data privacy ensures that individuals’ personal information is protected from unauthorized access and misuse.
- Prevention of identity theft and fraud – When data privacy is not respected, individuals may be at risk of identity theft and financial fraud.
- Maintaining customer/patient trust – Data privacy helps to maintain the trust of individuals in the organization who are handling their data. A breach of privacy costs you more than time and money – it costs you trust, which you can’t put a value on.
- Protection against discrimination and bias – Data privacy can help to protect against discrimination and other forms of bias by preventing sensitive information from being used against individuals.
- Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements – Organizations handling personal data must comply with various legal and regulatory requirements related to data privacy, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA. Specifically, with GDPR, individuals have the right to be forgotten, which gives you the right to request to have your personal data removed from the internet or other forms of data storage.
If you believe your personal data has been compromised and your data privacy rights have been violated, it’s critical that you report the incident and contact the relevant authorities. You may also decide you want to take legal action depending on what data was compromised. For more information on how we can help your organization protect personal data of your customers and employees, contact us today.