Data Privacy vs. Data Security vs. Data Protection: In-Depth Look

To Nha Notes | June 6, 2023, 8:06 a.m.

Let’s start with a simple table to illustrate the differences between these concepts:

Data Privacy Data Security Data Protection
Ensuring proper use of personal data by giving individuals control over how their data is accessed, used, or shared. Protecting data against unauthorized access, use or destruction by implementing appropriate technical controls, mechanisms and procedures Covers data availability, immutability, preservation, deletion/destruction, and “data privacy” and “data security.”

Data Security vs. Data Protection

People often mix up data security and data protection because the two concepts sound so similar. This confusion is understandable, as many assume that protecting data is the same as keeping it secure.

However, these terms carry specific meanings that shouldn’t be confused.

Data security is the science of keeping your data safe from unauthorized access. Meanwhile, data protection focuses on replicating and protecting that data in the event of data loss or damage.

Tips for Data Privacy Best Practices

  • Understand how your relevant regulations define personal information.
  • Utilize proper consent management when collecting data.
  • Store only essential information.
  • Don’t store data longer than necessary.
  • Understand individuals’ rights over their data under applicable laws and regulations. When individuals submit a request such as objecting to the sharing of their data, comply with such requests.

Tips for Data Security Best Practices

  • Limit internal access to data.
  • Encrypt your data.
  • Don’t use public Wi-Fi connections on your business devices.
  • Take extra precautions to guard against human error.

Tips for Data Protection Best Practices

  • Back up essential data regularly.
  • Consider sending backed-up data to the cloud.
  • Consider backing up data in a different physical location from your company offices — a catastrophic event at your physical location could destroy both the original files and the backups.

References

https://termly.io/resources/articles/data-privacy-vs-data-security-vs-data-protection/

https://cloudian.com/guides/data-protection/data-protection-and-privacy-7-ways-to-protect-user-data/