Data privacy is the safeguarding of individuals’ personal information and the preservation of their right to control the collection, processing, storage, and sharing of their data. Numerous challenges surround this crucial concept: data breaches, identity theft, lack of consent, data profiling, inadequate security measures (e.g. weak encryption), misuse of collected data, insufficient regulatory frameworks and enforcement mechanisms, social engineering attacks, location tracking, and the integration of emerging technologies such as biometrics and artificial intelligence without proper safeguards further compound the challenges, emphasizing the need for robust measures to address these multifaceted issues.
The first step in combating these threats is user education and data literacy. Data Privacy Week (January 21-27, 2024) is a public awareness program created by the National Cybersecurity Alliance to meet this need. The Alliance is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ‘advocate for the safe use of all technology and educate everyone on how best to protect ourselves, our families, and our organizations from cybercrime.’ The Alliance creates partnerships between governments and corporations in answering this need. This week, the Alliance is offering daily conversations called ‘Talking Data‘ with such topics as ‘Giving Data Brokers the Slip,’ ‘Protect Our Kids’ Privacy,’ and ‘Privacy on the AI Frontiers.’ Next week, the Alliance will be offering an Introduction to Privacy webinar on January 29th for entry-level privacy professionals and non-privacy professionals. Register here.
Helpful Resources
- Online Safety Basics
- How to Protect Yourself Against Deepfakes
- 7 Tips to Manage Your Identity and Protect Your Privacy Online
- Safeguarding Your Internet Activity with Incognito Mode
- What to Know about Stalkerware
Note:
Catholic University of America is hosting a all day conference on Generative AI and National Security on January 31st. Register.