Online Data Protection - What, Why & How?

Data is the new gold. Every business out there is looking for precious customer data on which to base their marketing endeavours, engineer new products and target the correct audiences. Therefore, protection of data and preventing the misuse of sensitive personal information has become extremely critical in the digital age.

It is not only important for businesses to prioritise the safety of sensitive customer data but also for individuals to be more mindful of their data safety.

What is Personal Data?
Personal data is your personal identifier. It's that data that is unique to you and makes you identifiable directly or indirectly. Lots of people still don't care that personal data is prone to be misused by criminals on the internet. Although in reality, personal data theft is highly dangerous and can compromise your sensitive information to a vast degree.

For businesses, it is important to pay attention to the security of the personal information they store and process, especially if they come under the purview of the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. Many businesses choose to hire cybersecurity experts through flexible formats like the Virtual Cyber Assistant to ensure they meet GDPR compliance requirements. This also helps them improve their data protection and risk management over time.

Weak data protection in some countries has resulted in widespread data leaks of citizen information. This is evidenced by the frequent occurrence of cybercrime cases, such as hacking and cracking (piracy) social media that leads to personal data breaches, extortion, online fraud via cell phones, and many others.

Activities in the digital space require personal data because we do not meet each other physically, so data becomes an online identifier. Leakage of personal data can lead to a crime because once the hackers get it, your virtual tracks can always be traced and misused.

In the case of businesses, a breach of personal customer or employee data can be the start of serious cyber attacks or ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure. This information involves the date of birth, cell phone number, password, and other identifications.

 Why Is Personal Data Protection Important?

In terms of online cybersecurity, there are five main reasons why it is important to protect personal data, namely:

• Prevent gender-related online bullying;
• Prevent misuse of personal data by irresponsible parties;
• Avoid potential fraud;
• Avoid potential defamation; and
• Gain the right of control over personal data.
• Online fraud is happening every minute with hackers coming up with new and more advanced techniques all the time. Often victims are people who do not have any knowledge about this or also those who are not aware or trained enough in cybersecurity.
• Every business must educate their staff in the importance of online personal data protection. They should help their employees understand how their online activity affects them and the business. Staff should also be given basic Cyber Incident Response training so they know what to do in case they feel they’ve clicked on a malicious link or downloaded an infected attachment.

Many social media applications that provide two-step verification features, backup codes, and e-mail notifications if other parties access our social media. We need to enable these features to avoid something bad from happening.