Today is the 12th annual Data Privacy Day. The goal of Data Privacy Day is to share the latest issues in consumer privacy and educate people on the importance of protecting their information.
Data Privacy Day was first recognized in 2007 as the European Data Protection Day by the Council of Europe. Then in January of 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to declare January 28 National Data Privacy Day.
The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is a big proponent of Data Privacy Day and will be hosting a live event focusing on data privacy in 2019. The NCSA has assembled a group of privacy and security professionals on its advisory committee to ensure that its privacy coverage is as current and relevant as possible.
We'll be live on #Periscope, #Facebook and #YouTube for A New Era in Privacy from 2:00 p.m. PST. View the agenda and get to know the #PrivacyAware experts below. 👇https://t.co/NakcRuEiva
— NatlCyberSecAlliance (@StaySafeOnline) January 28, 2019
NCSA’s Data Privacy Day presentation this year is focusing on privacy regulations, privacy within organizations, cloud security and artificial intelligence.
Expectations for Privacy & Cybersecurity This Year
Higher-Stakes Attacks
Even though the migration to digital and web based services has been in motion for well over a decade, there are still some organizations that are making the switch. As more groups in healthcare, banking and government infrastructure move to digital solutions, the risks of data breaches become even higher than they already are.
More User Push Back
Awareness is definitely growing in the realm of digital privacy. As more people experience the effects of privacy or security breaches, they will voice their opinions more strongly and demand more digital rights. It’s often difficult for people to understand why privacy matters. Unfortunately it’s only when their information has been leaked by a company like Equifax or Facebook, that it will start to make sense.
The biggest platforms and websites with the most users are among some of the biggest violators as far as privacy goes. We’ve already seen a number of high profile data breaches in 2019. Many websites are already moving towards more privacy oriented options for their users.
More Surveillance (From Everywhere)
If you’re on the internet, you’re being tracked. It’s as simple as that. However, tracking will only become more intrusive in the near future. People are already very willing to opt in to broad and intrusive privacy policies. As marketing technology becomes more advanced, the data profiles that companies can create about you grow more complete.
It’s not just companies collecting your data for marketing purposes, governments around the world are moving towards more surveillance of their citizens through new surveillance technologies.
One of the most concerning issues is facial recognition technology. Recent advances in facial recognition artificial intelligence means that governments can track a single person with much fewer resources. While this may not seem like an issue yet in the United States, in other nations facial recognition is used to identify protesters and political dissidents.
IoT Privacy & Security Issues
IoT devices are more prevalent in people’s homes than ever before and the trend isn’t going away any time soon. With more devices making their way into people’s homes, the data collection points for the average person is increasing rapidly. Five years ago, the average person may have had a smartphone and a laptop in their homes, but today that list may include a smart speaker, smart watches and many other internet-connected devices.