Data Privacy Day (known in Europe as Data Protection Day) is an international event that occurs every year on 28 January.
The purpose of Data Privacy Day is to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices. It is currently observed in the United States, Canada, Nigeria, Israel and 47 European countries.
Importance of Data Privacy:
Data privacy is the protection of personal information, such as one’s name, address, and credit card information, from unauthorized access and use. With the increasing amount of personal information being shared and stored online, data privacy has become a critical issue.
One of the main reasons data privacy is important is that it protects individuals from identity theft and fraud. Personal information, such as social security numbers and credit card information, can be used by criminals to steal a person’s identity and commit financial crimes. By protecting this information, data privacy helps to prevent these types of crimes and protect individuals from financial loss.
In addition to protecting individuals, data privacy is also important for businesses. Companies that collect and store personal information are responsible for protecting that information from unauthorized access and use. If a company fails to do so and a data breach occurs, it can result in significant financial losses and damage to the company’s reputation.
Data privacy is also important for political and social reasons. Governments and companies can use personal information to track and monitor individuals, which can lead to violations of civil liberties and human rights. By protecting personal information, data privacy helps to ensure that individuals have control over their own information and can maintain their privacy and freedom.
Data Privacy Day’s educational initiative originally focused on raising awareness among businesses as well as users about the importance of protecting the privacy of their personal information online, particularly in the context of social networking.
The educational focus has expanded over the years to include families, consumers and businesses. In addition to its educational initiative, Data Privacy Day promotes events and activities that stimulate the development of technology tools that promote individual control over personally identifiable information; encourage compliance with privacy laws and regulations; and create dialogues among stakeholders interested in advancing data protection and privacy.
The international celebration offers many opportunities for collaboration among governments, industry, academia, nonprofits, privacy professionals and educators.
The Convention for the Protection of Individuals about Automatic Processing of Personal Data was opened for signature by the Council of Europe on 28 January 1981. This convention is currently in the process of being updated to reflect new legal challenges caused by technological development.
The Convention on Cybercrime is also protecting the integrity of data systems and thus of privacy in cyberspace. Privacy including data protection is also protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The day was initiated by the Council of Europe to be first held in 2007 as the European Data Protection Day. Two years later, on 26 January 2009, the United States House of Representatives passed House Resolution HR 31 by a vote of 402–0, declaring 28 January National Data Privacy Day. On 28 January 2009, the Senate passed Senate Resolution 25 also recognizing 28 January 2009 as National Data Privacy Day. The United States Senate also recognized Data Privacy Day in 2010 and 2011.
In 2022, The Rise of Privacy Tech (TROPT) expanded Data Privacy Day celebrations into Data Privacy Week, kicking off the week with TROPT Data Privacy Week 2022, followed by a live TROPT Webcast Data Privacy Day broadcast, and a TROPT Innovators networking social.
To raise awareness of the challenges individuals and businesses need to overcome globally, the world’s first data privacy rap was created by the synthetic data company, MOSTLY AI.
Phishing
Phishing is a form of cyber-attack that involves tricking individuals into providing sensitive information, such as login credentials or credit card information, by disguising as a trustworthy source.
There are several types of phishing attacks, including:
- Spear phishing: This type of phishing targets specific individuals or organizations and uses personalized information to increase the chances of the attack being successful. The attacker will typically use information gathered from social media or other sources to make the email or message seem more credible.
- Smishing: This type of phishing uses text messages instead of emails to trick individuals into providing personal information or clicking on a malicious link.
- Vishing: This type of phishing uses phone calls instead of emails or text messages to trick individuals into providing personal information or transferring money.
- Whaling: This type of phishing targets high-profile individuals or executives within an organization and is designed to gain access to sensitive information or financial resources.
- Website Phishing: This type of phishing happens when the attacker creates a replica of a legitimate website and trick the user to enter their information in the fake website.
It’s important to be aware of these different types of phishing and to be vigilant when providing personal information online or over the phone. It’s also important to keep your software updated, use anti-phishing browser extension and be suspicious of unsolicited emails or messages.
Data Breaches:
Data breaches in India have been a growing concern in recent years. Some notable examples include:
- In 2017, the personal data of 1.2 billion Indians, including names, addresses, and voter ID numbers, was found to be available for purchase on the dark web. This data was believed to have been collected through a government portal and had been used for political campaigns.
- In 2018, the personal data of nearly all Indian citizens, including their names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses, was found to be available for purchase on the dark web. The data was believed to have been collected through a third-party vendor and had been used for targeted advertising.
- In 2019, data of millions of Indians was compromised in a data breach at a major Indian bank. The personal information of customers, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and PAN numbers, was found to be available for sale on the dark web.
- In 2020, a data breach at India’s biggest public sector bank, State Bank of India, exposed personal information of millions of customers. The data included names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and account numbers.
- In 2021, a data breach at a major Indian insurance company affected the personal data of millions of policyholders, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and policy details.
These examples demonstrate that data breaches in India have been occurring with increasing frequency, affecting a significant number of individuals and businesses, and exposing a wide range of sensitive information. The data breaches have raised concerns about the security of personal information in India and the need for stronger data privacy laws and regulations.
Overall, data privacy is essential for protecting individuals and businesses from financial and reputational damage, as well as for preserving civil liberties and human rights.
It is important that individuals take steps to protect their own personal information and that businesses and governments have strong data privacy laws in place to protect individuals’ information.
