Data Privacy Day Is Your Opportunity to Put Privacy in the Spotlight

Happy Data Privacy Day from everyone at Liquid Web!

Every January 28th, the National Cyber Security Alliance organizes Data Privacy Day, an international effort to raise awareness about privacy issues, how they can affect our lives and our businesses, and what we can all do to help keep sensitive data private.

No one really wants to think about data privacy 24/7, we are busy being productive, creative, and getting entertainment from our time spent on the Internet. Liquid Web has employed passionate and knowledgeable engineers and web hosting experts who work diligently to make sure that your data is secure, and that the users of your sites are secure, too!

Even with our experts, data privacy is something that should be on everyone’s mind more often, not just for the few minutes we spend on it when we hear about the latest massive data theft in the news.

Get the technology right

Privacy is complicated, especially for businesses bound by regulatory frameworks like HIPAA. A huge number of privacy breaches happen because companies don’t ask experts for help with data hosting and the engineering of secure platforms.

In the case of HIPAA or PCI DSS, standard web hosting simply doesn’t cut it. Using standard web hosting will expose your business to regulatory compliance breaches and put your customers at risk. Make sure to select HIPAA Cloud Hosting or PCI-DSS Compliant Hosting to stay in compliance.

It is important to do your research and choose a hosting solution optimized for data privacy and physical security.

Privacy is about people

We tend to think of privacy as a purely technological problem: if only we had the right technology, the right encryption, the right firewalls, we’d all be safe. But really, privacy is about people. It’s about helping people understand the risks and what they can do to protect themselves and their customers. Everyone in a company should be aware of the part they have to play in keeping data safe.

Training and education are the foundation of an effective privacy policy. Employees need to be aware that clicking links in random emails isn’t smart, that putting private data on a USB drive so they can work from home isn’t the best idea, that “iloveyou” is not an adequate password to protect a server account or application login. A single privacy mistake could have disastrous consequences for your business and its customers, especially if you handle legally protected data covered by regulatory frameworks like HIPAA.

Data Privacy Day is a great opportunity for businesses to take a step in the right direction and make thinking about privacy fun for one day at least.

Privacy parties

Privacy training can be fun, and I don’t mean the sort of “fun” where everyone pretends to be cheerful when they’d really rather be anywhere else. Make a game of privacy training. A company-wide quiz show that gives employees and executives the chance to compete against each other for a prize is a great way to make privacy policies more memorable. Privacy role-playing games are also an effective training tool. Have employees act out scenarios in which privacy breaches might occur: opening a phishing email, visiting a malware infected site, giving out private information without verifying the identity of the recipient, and so on.

Privacy checklists

There’s a lot to remember where privacy is concerned. Checklists can help employees stick to basic privacy precautions. Last year, we published a comprehensive data privacy checklist businesses can use to ensure that they have the right protections in place.

Know your limitations

A standard web stack is incredibly complex, from networks and servers to a front-end application via multiple layers of hardware and software. Unless server management and online security are your business’s core competence, you should consider leaving the management of your hosting platform to the professionals. That goes double if you’re handling sensitive data.

Read more tips on how to improve data privacy or chat with one of our solutions consultants today.