The world of business has been turned upside down in recent years by data breaches. Hackers have managed to gain access to some of the most sensitive data, and they have used it to devastating effect. Businesses of all sizes have been affected, and many have had to close their doors permanently as a result. As stakeholders send a DSR request to have their data changed, hackers and snoopers have found innovative ways to access it, and this has left businesses scrambling to protect their customers.
With hackers gaining ground every year, many businesses are taking a more proactive approach than they used to do. The days of “It can’t happen to us!” have gone forever, and now many companies are taking privacy seriously.
In this article, we will explore the ways in which data breaches have made privacy a key business priority. We will also look at some of the steps that businesses are taking to protect their customers’ data.
How Data Breaches Have Affected Customers
According to an article published by CSO dubbed “The Biggest Data Breaches of the 21st Century”, data breaches can affect billions of people at a time. For instance, the Yahoo data breach in 2013 affected more than three billion customers. On the same note, the Equifax breach in 2017 affected more than 143 million people.
Over the past few years, major businesses including LinkedIn, Alibaba, eBay, and Target have all been victims of data breaches. As a result, customers’ trust in these businesses has plummeted. In the case of Equifax, for example, the company’s stock prices dropped by more than 30% after the breach was announced.
In addition to losing trust in businesses, customers have also had to deal with the consequences of data breaches. These can include identity theft, credit card fraud, and more. As a result, many customers had to spend hours or even days trying to rectify the damage that had been done to their personal information.
How Companies are Prioritizing Data Privacy
When data is breached, it can be used to steal identities, access bank accounts, and even obtain passports. In the worst-case scenarios, data breaches can lead to financial ruin or physical harm. For this reason, it’s important for businesses to take steps to protect their customers’ data.
Some of the steps most businesses are taking to enhance data privacy include:
Encryption
This is the process of transforming readable data into an unreadable format. This makes it difficult for hackers to access the data if they manage to get their hands on it.
Two-factor authentication
This is a security measure that requires two forms of identification before users can access their accounts. For example, businesses might require a password and a code sent to the user’s phone. This makes it much more difficult for hackers to access accounts because they must know the password and have access to the customer’s mobile device.
Privacy by design
This is a security measure that ensures privacy during every stage of development, rather than as an afterthought or add-on at the end. It includes things like data minimization, pseudonymity, and transparency.
In addition to these measures, businesses are also working hard to create a culture of data privacy within their organizations. This includes training employees on how to protect customer data and establishing clear guidelines for what is and isn’t acceptable when it comes to handling personal information.
As the importance of data privacy continues to grow, businesses will likely continue to come up with new ways to ensure that their customers’ personal information remains out of reach for hackers. With the introduction of GDPR and CCPA, they also gain a greater incentive to do so.
