Privacy & Security: How to Stay Protected

Innovate & Integrate

The United States privacy environment is drawing much attention based on the private-sector collection and use of data. So what is privacy? Consider how personal, territorial, and medical communications are kept private. Simply stated, privacy can be defined in two ways:

1. Privacy - Rights of Individuals -- The right to be let alone, the appropriate use of personal information.
2. Data Protection - Controls of Private Information -- The management of private, personal information.

As demonstrated by records management best practices, the collection, use, safeguarding, retention, disclosure, and destruction of information, otherwise known as the Information Life Cycle, asserts that companies should only keep data as long as it is useful. Fair Information Practices (FIPs) refers to the rules and regulations concerning collecting and managing private information. Starting in the early 1970s, the Privacy Act of 1974 included important privacy considerations for giving notice, choice, and accountability. The latest regulation concerning the comprehensive protection of EU citizens, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), was rolled out in May 2018.



So, where are we going with Privacy and Security?

Compliance is a big concern. Fines and penalties for violating private information can be devastating to any organization - possibly 2 to 4% of annual revenue. This week we're seeing Facebook and Cambridge Analytica facing scrutiny for noncompliance of privacy data handling and harvesting private data for a profit.

A personal data breach is another concern. A security breach leads to accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure, or access to personal data transmitted, stored, or otherwise processed. Once sensitive or private information is breached, the processor of the data must inform management immediately.