We live in a time where it’s hard to go more than several days without reading about data breaches or hacks which expose millions of personal data to hackers. People are looking for ways to protect their information online.
But it’s important to understand how to safeguard the personal data that you input into your digital business to comply with your legal obligations and protect consumers’ privacy. Here are some guidelines to help you achieve this.
1. Identify Personal Data
As defined by the laws protecting data according to the law, personal data is information that can be used to identify or be used to identify an individual. In the digital age this could include anything from emails to biometrics. Many types of information, which are considered to be private, can be deemed to be not personal if certain conditions are satisfied. For instance, if an organisation collects various kinds of data about individuals and they’re all asked to provide their job title this is likely not personal information since it cannot be used to identify a specific person.
Many companies are required by law to limit the amount of personal information that they collect. This is generally an excellent thing since it reduces the chances of the possibility of a data breach. In addition, many laws governing data protection require a higher level security for sensitive personal data than regular personal data. This is due to the fact that it may be more harmful or damaging consequences for data subjects in the event of a data breach.