ISACA Malta Chapter is joining worldwide celebrations to mark International Data Protection Day next Tuesday. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness and promote data privacy education.
With 110,000 constituents in 180 countries, ISACA (www.isaca.org) is a global association that helps business and IT leaders maximise value and manage risk related to information and technology.
Led by the National Cyber Security Alliance, the day started off as an educational initiative originally focused on raising awareness among teenagers and young adults about the importance of protecting the privacy of their personal information online, particularly in the context of social networking. The educational focus has expanded over the years to include businesses.
In addition to its educational initiative, the day promotes events and activities that stimulate the development of technology tools that promote individual control over personally identifiable information; encourage compliance with privacy laws and regulations; and create dialogues among stakeholders interested in advancing data protection and privacy. The international celebration offers many opportunities for collaboration among governments, industry, academia, non-profits, privacy professionals and educators.
As an International Data Privacy Day champion, ISACA recognises and supports the ideal that individuals, organisations, businesses and government all share the responsibility to be aware of privacy challenges.
“Organisations have a responsibility to secure their part of cyberspace and the networks they use. We also strongly encourage organisations as well as individuals to bring information privacy into their daily thoughts, conversations and actions.
“Best practices, as those published by ISACA, should be adopted by organisations to protect personal information. Disclosure of such information can harm the individual linked to it as well as the organisation itself in terms of reputation, legal repercussions and missed future business opportunities,” ISACA said.
Last August, ISACA issued a White Paper for discussion on privacy and big data, outlining some of the benefits contributing to the explosion of big data implementation across enterprises of all sizes, such as improved decision making, faster time to market, better customer service and increased profits.
Enterprises eager to reap the benefits of big data and its vast potential are recognising their responsibility to protect the privacy of the personal data gathered and analysed. Risk and maintaining adequate mechanisms to govern and protect privacy need to be major areas of focus in any big data initiative.
A free webinar titled ‘Where Do You Draw the Creepy Line? Privacy, Big Data Analytics and the Internet of Things’ can be followed on www.isaca.org.