Privacy and data protection are concepts that are part of countless organizations’ daily routines today. After all, if a company deals with customer, employee, and supplier data, it is necessary to ensure the privacy and protection of this data.
However, even though they are frequently used terms, many people don’t understand the differences between the concepts. Furthermore, the real importance of privacy and data protection is also not exactly clear in many cases.
In general, when there is a data leak, there are several consequences for the organizations responsible for it. When there is no data protection system, for example, the organization may end up paying dearly and needing to create strategies to remedy the consequences.
Continue reading this article to understand what it is, the principles, and the difference between privacy and data protection.
What is Data Protection
When we talk about data protection, we refer to processes and strategies related to data integrity against unauthorized access.
In this way, when there is data protection, there is a construction of greater trust with employees, customers, and suppliers, if applicable.
On the other hand, when a leak of personal information happens, the reverse effect is observed. People begin to distrust the company and end up choosing to buy from competitors in future situations.
In this sense, having an internal data protection organization is necessary. Especially if the company collects, maintains, and uses personal and confidential information from its employees, customers, or suppliers.
This is because with a data protection system, the organization is protected and prepared to minimize damage in any case of data leakage or improper access.
What are the principles of data protection
There are some principles that help ensure data protection in any organization. From small companies to large companies and industries, these principles should guide the business's data protection policies.
Data availability
It is part of data protection to have an organization and availability of it. This means that a piece of data needs to be available if the owner requests it.
At the same time, the data cannot be available for anyone to access. Because the reason data protection exists is precisely to prevent access by unauthorized persons.
Data management
What happens when data is collected by an organization? If this is not clear, this company is not guaranteeing good data protection.
The complete management goes from the moment the collection is made, then the storage, and finally the use of the data.
It is also necessary that automation of data transmission exists. In this way, data is sent from the offline environment to online storage without any human involvement and in a secure way.
What is data privacy
The concept of data privacy deals with the level of access to data. It is from data privacy initiatives that it becomes clear who owns and who defines what access will be within a company.
Some data that goes into data privacy policies include birthdays, names, identification numbers such as RG and CPF, financial information, contact information, and medical information.
This type of information is frequently collected by companies, so it is necessary to work with data privacy so that only authorized people can access customer, employee, and supplier data.
When strict control is in place, it is much easier to identify malicious access to data. That's because you know exactly who has access to each type of information, and an attacker is easily identified.
What are the principles of data privacy
Data privacy is important because it relates to who has access to certain types of data within the enterprise.
In fact, in Brazil we have the General Data Protection Regulation (LGPD) which explains all the concepts and principles of data privacy.
Purpos
The first principle of the LGPD is purpose. That is, it says that the company has a defined purpose for accessing personal data.
And in addition to defining this purpose, the company needs to make its intention with the data clear to the data subject.
Transparency
Another principle of data privacy, within the LGPD, is that companies need to be honest with data holders. Therefore, any company needs to inform what will be done with people's data, and also if they will be treated in any way.
Prevention
Ensuring data privacy is also preventing possible leaks of this data. For this, organizations need to adopt measures so that damage is avoided or at least minimized in case of attacks.
Understanding the difference between privacy and data protection
As you have learned through this article, there are differences between privacy and data protection. Check below in more detail the main aspects that separate these two concepts.
Privacy Policies x Protection Mechanisms
Data privacy has to do with legislation and official policies on the collection, storage, and use of data. On the other hand, data protection is related to tools and procedures that are used to enforce current legislation.
People control privacy vs. companies ensure protection
Usually, people themselves can define who will have access to their personal information. On the other hand, when it comes to data protection, the organization that is collecting the data is the responsible one.
So what organizations need to do is ensure that the privacy that users have determined is actually being implemented and enforced.
Security against unauthorized sales x Security against hackers
Data privacy aims to ensure data security against unauthorized sales. In this way, there are no sales or improper sharing of access to information.
In the case of data security, the goal is to keep them away from hackers and sources of external attacks.
Data privacy comes first, then comes data protection
Before creating any data protection protocol, it is necessary to assess what will be collected by the organization. First, data collection is done according to the company's strategy. Then, the survey of tools that will be necessary to guarantee the protection of this data is done.
Having one is not a guarantee of the other
Both the privacy and the protection of the personal data of customers, employees, and suppliers are essential.
However, it is not because there are privacy policies that data protection is guaranteed. The same goes for the opposite, because even if there are systems and tools to protect data, privacy may not be guaranteed.
In order to have the best possible control, it is necessary to have strategies so that privacy and also protection exist.
You need to start with some action, so start creating privacy protocols, in which the customer or employee themselves determine the privacy of their own data.
Then, start putting a data protection plan into practice, with a good system created for this purpose.
In this way, it will be possible to guarantee both privacy and data security.
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