“Data Privacy” and “Data Security” are two terms that can sometimes be used interchangeably, especially by those who aren’t in the field of data protection. However, in this particular sector, they mean two very different things. Understanding the relationship between them is essential for grasping the complexity of regulatory compliance.
“Data Privacy” and “Data Security” are two terms that can sometimes be used interchangeably, especially by those who aren’t in the field of data protection. However, in this particular sector, they mean two very different things. Understanding the relationship between them is essential for grasping the complexity of regulatory compliance. This article is a quick primer that illustrates how privacy and security differ and how they work together as building blocks of regular data operation.
In simple terms, security means securing data against unauthorized access. Privacy is about managing and defining authorized access. Data security is a technical issue that involves building robust defense mechanisms in your digital infrastructure. Data privacy is questioning and tackling legal and legislative spheres.
One of the most important relationships to note is that data privacy pre-supposes security. The GDPR doesn’t contain prescriptive instructions for how organizations should fortify their network because the only way for its privacy provisions to get followed is with data security. If a cybercriminal steals someone’s PII, it’s evident they are violating someone’s privacy rights.
So, data privacy assumes data security. Does the reverse hold? Does data security include data privacy? No, but organizations fall into the trap of making this assumption often. In so doing, they can avoid taking necessary regulatory compliance steps.
It’s not enough to protect data from outside attacks. Managing and enforcing internal permissions – i.e., managing privacy – is a vital piece of the puzzle for any business to be compliant with the latest data regulation. Internal privacy controls can be complicated and time-consuming in a large company. Something as simple as employees copying files onto personal flash drives can sink a carefully constructed operation. However, the effort to keep data processes watertight is an essential cost of doing business in 2019. Moreover, the cost of failing to invest in both security and privacy can prove disastrous.
Ethyca hosted its second P.x session with the Fides Slack Community earlier this week. Our Senior Software Engineer Thomas La Piana gave a live walkthrough of the open-source privacy engineering platform, Fides 2.0. He demonstrated how users can easily deploy Fides and go from 0 to full DSR automation in less than 15 minutes. If you weren’t able to attend, here are the three main points addressed during the session.
Introducing consent management in Fides 2.0. With the coming state privacy laws in 2023, your business needs to have granular control over users’ data and their consent preferences. Learn more about how Fides can enable this for your business, for free.
Ethyca launched its privacy engineering meetup, P.x, where Fides Slack Community members met and interacted with the Fides developer team. Two of our Senior Software Engineers, Dawn and Steve, gave presentations and demos on the importance of data minimization, and how Fides can make data minimization easier for teams. Here, we’ll recap the three main points of discussion.
We enjoyed two great days of security and privacy talks at this year’s Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, aka SOUPS Conference! Presenters from all over the world spoke both in-person and virtually on the latest findings in privacy and security research.
At Ethyca, we believe that software engineers are becoming major privacy stakeholders, but do they feel the same way? To answer this question, we went out and asked 337 software engineers what they think about the state of contemporary privacy… and how they would improve it.
The UK’s new Data Reform Bill is set to ease data privacy compliance burdens on businesses to enable convenience and spark innovation in the country. We explain why convenience should not be the end result of a country’s privacy legislation.
Our team of data privacy devotees would love to show you how Ethyca helps engineers deploy CCPA, GDPR, and LGPD privacy compliance deep into business systems. Let’s chat!
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