In 2006 on 26th January, the European Council has decided to initiate a Data Protection Day that is being celebrated every 28th January every year. After 2 years other countries including the United States and Canada are started celebrating this day as Data Privacy Day.

Now, this day is celebrated across the world to aware people and organizations about the risk and protection of the data. This day recalls us about the value of our data and data transparency. In this day we know and re-examine the flaws present and manage how we store, transfer and use the data.

Data Privacy Day allows us to find a path to fix all the vulnerabilities and loopholes present, so that we can secure our data from malicious attacks and data loss, and other threats.

Have you ever think why this day is so important? What happened last year? Read the upcoming section to know!

What Occurred Last Year?

When the whole world is busy dealing with COVID-19, that was the most crucial time for everyone. This pandemic reminded us that nothing in this world is granted because during this period all the government and private organizations are struggling to manage their business operations.

The COVID-19 forced almost all organizations to adopt a work from home policy. Therefore in this situation, the organizations had to sacrifice their security protocols while working from home. Whereas, the hackers took the advantage of it and conduct several attacks that caused various problems.

According to CISOs, 85% of the organizations had to sacrifice their security while enabling the work from home during this lockdown period. We also know that every coin has two sides, as this epidemic also comes up with two outcomes. One the struggling stage where organizations dealing to maintain their business and another one is cybersecurity, which gives a golden opportunity to the hackers to take full advantage of this situation.

What Hackers Do?

Cybercriminals deploy exploit and cyberattacks to steal data and money by modifying the loopholes present in the organization’s environment.

Hackers left no one even the United States government has reported the malware attack named as Sunburst backdoor attack. The hackers can compromise with all the U.S government agencies included the commerce department, homeland security, the national institute of health, the pentagon, the US military, and several others are the victims of the SolarWinds attack.

Almost every organization can be the victim of a cyberattack. Doesn’t matter whether the organization is small or big, if they are using work from home then they are at the risk.

The hackers targeted the employee through different methods, whether it is a phishing attack, or vishing attack, or ransomware. They steal the data and compromise the company accounts. According to the survey, the hackers targeted around 130 Twitter accounts and tweeted from more than 45 accounts that include Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Joe Biden, and many others.

Moving towards our topic that is Why is Data Privacy Day is Important?

Value of Data Privacy Day

As we know that the technology is rapidly increasing day by day, therefore managing your data is the key to the success of the organization. Every organization is combining their data and collecting the information to enhancing their business. The data is collected from the users or from the customers who are submitting their personal information to the organizations. But in case if the data goes in the wrong hand, then anything would have happened.

On the other hand data breach is the biggest problem faced during this pandemic, if the data breach has happened at a social networking site like Twitter will result in the biggest scam. If a data breach has happened in an organization and they can get the employee details then several malicious activities can occur such as identity theft.

These are the reasons why data privacy is introduced and why the other countries celebrating this day.

Now go through the upcoming section to know about effective ways to protect your data and celebrate Data Privacy Day.

Ways to Protect Your Data

• Use VPN : VPN plays a crucial role in maintaining your privacy. It encrypts all of the Internet traffics and makes it unreadable to everyone. VPN also secures the information transmitted over the employees by the employer.
• Research The Source: Be careful when you received a message, always check the domain links and confirm that the person is a member of the organization.
• Don’t Download Files: Always remember if you don’t know the sender or you are not expecting anything from that sender. Then don’t open or download anything sent by them.
• Update Software Regularly: Always update your software you are using because the Updates fixed security flaws and protect your data. Make sure you are updating the lasted version of your software, many hackers use outdated versions.
• Aware of Phishing Scams: Do not click on any link without checking its credibility. Also, make sure that website is using HTTPS. Never open email attachments coming from unknown senders.
• Beware of Fake Offers: If you receive an email from a company offering you the lottery, a large sum of money there is the chance that it is a scam. Before entering your details, verify that the offer is genuine or not.
• Consider Two-Factor Authentication: Multi-factor authentication is always verified with two methods to log into an account. Always use a minimum of two-factor authentication for securing your sensitive data accounts. 
• Think Before You Click: Apart from phishing, avoid to click on unwanted pop-up appears during browsing. Never click on any link if it looks different than you expect.
• Use Strong Password: NCSA also recommends using a strong password that contains symbols, numerical, alphabetic words, etc. Make sure that your devices like router, WiFi network, and others are password protected.
• Protect Your Data: Regularly create a backup of your crucial data in an off-site location. Do not share your data with any networking sites. Use cloud solution to store sensitive data safely.
• Install Anti-Malware Software: Download and use secured antivirus that prevents unauthorized access. Use the program that secures your system from malware, spyware, and other attacks conducted online or through emails. 
• Be Attentive When Online: Train yourself not to click on any scam advertisement or clickbait. Always remember that most of the lotteries you find online are fake, never provide your financial details to them.

Summering Up

Now you know what is the importance of Data Privacy Day. Start using these tips and prevent unauthorized access of your data, don’t wait for another data breach. Data Privacy Day always reminds us of the importance of our data and why we need to protect it from hackers.