Data Privacy Week

About Data Privacy Week

Your data is valuable. Many people and businesses would pay top dollar for it and they don’t all have your best interests in mind. But you have the power to take charge of your data. This is why we are excited to celebrate Data Privacy Week every year!

The National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) expanded Data Privacy Day into Data Privacy Week because your data is that important! Data Privacy Day began in the United States in January of 2008.

It is an extension of Data Protection Day in Europe, which commemorates the January 28, 1981 signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection.

We think data privacy should be a priority both for individuals and organizations. Our goal is to empower people to better manage their data and to encourage organizations to treat their users’ data with respect.

Apps & Software Tipsheet What is Data Privacy Week? Your Data Privacy Tipsheet

Take Control of Your Data

Your online activity creates a treasure trove of data. This data ranges from your interests and purchases to your online behaviors, and it is collected by websites, apps, devices, services, and companies all around the globe. This data can even include information about your physical self like health data – think about how an app on your phone might count how many steps you take.

You cannot control how each little piece of data about you and your family is collected. However, you still have a right to data privacy. You can help manage your data with a few repeatable behaviors. Your data is valuable, and you deserve to have a say!

Here are some simple, easy tips you that will help you manage your data privacy:

1. Know the tradeoff between privacy and convenience. 

Nowadays, when you download a new app, open a new online account, or join a new social media platform, you will often be asked for access to your personal information before you can even use it! This data might include your geographic location, contacts, and photos.

For these businesses, this personal information about you is tremendously value — and you should think about if the service you get in return is worth the data you must hand over, even if the service is free. Make informed decisions about sharing your data with businesses or services:

• Is the service, app, or game worth the amount or type of personal data they want in return?
• Can you control your data privacy and still use the service?
• Is the data requested even relevant for the app or service (that is, “why does a Solitaire game need to know all my contacts”)?
• If you haven’t used an app, service, or account in several months, is it worth keeping around knowing that it might be collecting and sharing your data?

2. Adjust privacy settings to your comfort level

For every app, account, or device, check the privacy and security settings. These should be easy to find in a Settings section and should take a few moments to change. Set them to your comfort level for personal information sharing; generally, we think it’s wise to lean on the side of sharing less data, not more.

You don’t have to do this for every account at once, start small and over time you’ll make a habit of adjusting all your settings to your comfort. We have in-depth, free resources like our Manage Your Privacy Settings page that lets you check the settings of social media accounts, retail stores, apps and more.

3. Protect your data

Data privacy and data security go hand-in-hand. Along with managing your data privacy settings, follow some simple cybersecurity tips to keep it safe. We recommend following the Core 4:

1. Create long (at least 16 characters), unique passwords for each account and device. Use a password manager to store each password – maintaining dozens of passwords securely is now easier than ever.
2. Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever it is permitted – this keeps your data safe even if your password is compromised.
3. Turn on automatic device, software, and browser updates, or make sure you install updates as soon as they are available.
4. Learn how to identify phishing messages, which can be sent as emails, texts, or direct messages.

Facts and Figures

• 91% of organizations say they need to be doing more to protect their customers’ data (Cisco)
• 94% of businesses say their customers won’t buy from them if their data is not protected. (Cisco)
• 91% of organizations say they need to be doing more to reassure customers about how their data is being used with AI (Cisco)
• 47% of consumers are not confident that their personal data, such as social security numbers, health history and financial information, is private and not distributed without their knowledge (Consumer Reports).
• 70% of companies increased their collection of personal consumer data over the past year (KPMG).
• 46% of data breaches in 2024 involved Personal Identifiable Information (PII) (IBM).
• An estimated 75% of the global population will be covered under modern privacy regulations by the end of 2024 (Statista).
• 73% of U.S. consumers are more concerned about their data privacy now than they were a few years ago (SAS).
• 38% of U.S. consumers use social media less often because of data privacy concerns (SAS).
• 38% of respondents admitted to sharing sensitive information with AI without their employer’s knowledge (Oh Behave!).
• 38% of respondents admitted to sharing sensitive information with AI without their employer’s knowledge (Oh Behave!).
• 52% of employees reported not receiving training on AI (Oh Behave!).
• 65% of people expressed concern about AI-related cybercrime (Oh Behave!).
• 67% of Americans have little to no understanding about what companies do with the data collected about them (Pew Research Center).
• 77% of Americans have little to no understanding about what the government does with the data collected about them (Pew Research Center).