Each year on January 28, the United States, Canada, Israel and 47 European countries observe Data Privacy Day. The purpose of Data Privacy Day is to inspire dialogue on the importance of online privacy. These discussions also seek to inspire individuals and businesses to take action in an effort to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust.

In observance of Data Privacy Day this year, here are five recommendations through which organizations can bolster their data security efforts.

Train Your Workforce

Organizations can use a security awareness training program to educate their employees about the importance of data security. Curricula CEO Nick Santora recommends that organizations begin by creating a team to create a strategic plan for the security awareness training program. Buy-in from the top is critical to this type of program, so the team should include executive management as well as initiative leaders.

At that point, the team can begin developing programs to educate the organization’s workforce, including the C-Suite. This training should consist of digital security best practices and phishing testing. Digital security writer Anastasios Arampatzis also recommends that the program address drivers of malicious behavior to mitigate the risk of insider threats.

Embrace a Data-Centric Security Strategy

Mobile, the Internet of Things (IoT) and the cloud have dissolved the traditional boundaries of the network. As such, organizations need to now approach network security from a more holistic and strategic viewpoint. Information security expert Jeff Man urges organizations to specifically embrace a data-centric approach through which they develop a strategic understanding of what data they have and how valuable that data is to their business operations.

Once they have an idea of what data they have, organizations should protect their data by doing encryption the right way. They should also look to the Center for Internet Security’s (Read more...)