The Right, and Privilege, to Remain Private 

We hope you had a wonderful 4th of July! Fireworks were booming, grills were blazing, and cameras were popping—capturing photos and videos of the early summer fun.

Social media is a fun and convenient way to show off your photos and connect with others, something many of us do personally and professionally.

But with the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, we’re a little more hesitant today than we were last Independence Day, and starting to wonder what privacy is and whether or not it exists anymore.

Privacy: Your Right or Privilege?

The debate surrounding privacy marches on each day:

• Some say it’s a right everyone is entitled to, regardless of the situation and/or conditions. And that businesses should do anything and everything in their power to uphold that right first and foremost.
• Others say it’s a privilege that users are entitled to by virtue of whatever they’re using and/or paying for. And that businesses are entitled to controlling it because without their products and services, that privacy wouldn’t be a conversation in the first place.

The truth is, it’s not a discussion that’s going to end soon or with simple clarity. Meaning it’s probably in our collective best interest to treat it as both, protecting privacy as a right and a privilege.

Step Back and Take a Look

Expectations around privacy are changing, and if you haven’t already started hearing from your customers, you may soon. They’re right to be concerned about their personal information and may choose not to do business with you if they’re uncomfortable with your cybersecurity posture.

Step back and ask yourself:

• How and why are you collecting, storing, and sharing data?
• What sensitive data could be stolen if you experienced a cyberattack?
• What does your cybersecurity posture look like?

Your customers trust you with their information, and it’s your responsibility to protect it, whether it’s the keys to their kingdom or just their email address.

Step Up and Take Action

A data breach can be devastating to both the average consumer and to a business:

• When a consumer’s personal information—name, email address, social security number, birth date, etc.—is shared or stolen from an online source, it can result in everything from annoying spam email to full-blown identity theft.
• When a vendor loses a business’s sensitive data – intellectual property, system designs, employee information, etc. – it can have a huge impact on reputation, operations, and bottom lines.

There is no getting around it, we all have information about our company’s operations, financials, products, services, customers, and employees.

Just like the fireworks we see in the air every 4th of July, privacy is far from black and white. That’s why it’s critical we color the conversation ourselves: Take privacy seriously and protect it with a cyber-solid foundation of policies and procedures, a cyber-smart culture of defenders, and cyber-strong technology that goes beyond antivirus and firewalls.

Stay Safe,

Your Friends @ Defendify