According to data privacy statistics, 81% of internet users in the United States feel that their data is vulnerable to hackers. That is why 86% of them have made an attempt to either reduce their digital footprint or delete their data from the internet completely. 79% of internet users feel that they have lost control over their personal data. 72% of internet users have experienced identity theft or have fallen victim to online fraud. 67% of users are more concerned about their data privacy than they have ever been.
All these statistics paint a dark picture about data privacy but very few businesses take data privacy seriously. In fact, they end up making common mistakes that come back to haunt them in the long run. The worst part is that most of them don’t even realize that they are doing something wrong. As a result, they can not take corrective measures to fix the issues.
With the rapidly changing digital and business landscape, new risks are being introduced. This creates a bigger challenge for IT and cybersecurity teams. Ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations demands consistent effort but most businesses don’t do that. Due to this, they end up paying a hefty price for it in the long run.
In this article, Anti-Dos will highlight five common data privacy mistakes that you are making without even realizing it.
5 Common Data Privacy Mistakes You Are Making Without Realizing It
Here are five data privacy mistakes most businesses are making and they don’t even know about it
- Applying Set It and Forget It Formula On Data Privacy
One of the biggest mistakes businesses can ever make is to adopt a set and forget it approach data privacy. Think of data privacy as a continuous process. Setting up policies and procedures for data privacy is not enough. You will have to constantly tweak it according to changing situations in order to be effective.
The same goes for risk assessment. Let’s say you have conducted a risk assessment and developed a strategy based on that risk profile but now your risk has significantly increased so you should also adjust your strategy, policies, and procedures based on the new risk profile instead of sticking with the old one.
When you don’t constantly manage data privacy, your security and privacy controls start to weaken and vulnerabilities start to emerge. This gives threat actors an opportunity to get a foot in the door and fulfill their malicious desires by exploiting those vulnerabilities.
This can not only lead to data breaches, and cybersecurity attacks but can also lead to financial losses and reputation damages. That is why you should invest in DDoS protected dedicated servers. Your customers will start to lose trust and they will start looking for alternatives. As a result, you will end up losing a lot of your loyal customers.
You could be slapped with a lawsuit or fine due to data breaches, which can add insult to injury. No business wants to lose their loyal customers to such incidents that is why it is important for businesses to take data privacy seriously. In fact, they should make data privacy an integral part of the process instead of treating it as a one-time activity. Make sure you monitor compliance and perform risk assessments on a regular basis instead of doing it once a year.
- Thinking Data Privacy Laws are Location Dependent
According to tp ISACA’S Privacy in Practice survey, 50% of respondents have a skill gap when it comes to understanding the laws and regulations they have to comply with. How can you comply with a regulation or law when you don’t even understand what it says? Well, you can’t. That is exactly what is happening with businesses.
Most businesses think that they only have complied with laws and regulations which apply to the location their business operates in. These laws and regulations can go well beyond your business location. As a rule of thumb, you should comply with laws and regulations in regions where your customers are located not where your business is located.
- Complying With One Regulation Is Enough
Just because you have complied with one major regulation does not mean that now you can relax. You could face fines, penalties, and even lawsuits due to this. You need to remember that complying with one regulation is not enough to fulfill the requirements of other laws and regulations. Every law and regulation is different and has unique requirements. Just because two regulations share some requirements does not mean that complying with one is equal to complying with the other. There are many different requirements that you will have to fulfill for every regulation and privacy law. - Little To No Data Privacy Training
Even though the awareness around data privacy is growing, there is still a long way to go. Most employees and even businesses are totally unaware of data privacy. That is why it is important for organizations to educate their employees on data privacy through training programs. Despite attending these programs, very few employees actually follow the best practices to keep their data private.
Most organizations don’t consider data privacy important so they never or rarely arrange data privacy training for their employees. Organizations must make this data privacy training a regular affair and evaluate the effectiveness of this training.
- Failure To Comply With Own Privacy Policy
There is nothing worse for a business than not complying with its own privacy policy. Despite this, we see many businesses fall into that trap. Even worst, most employees or even top stakeholders don’t even know what’s written in the privacy policy document let alone understand or comply with them. Even if they do understand the privacy policy document, they rarely take steps to comply with them. We have already seen hundreds of businesses slapped with penalties for violating their own privacy policy and using deceptive practices to trick regulatory bodies.
Which data privacy mistake cost you the most? Share it with us in the comments section below.
