Data protection is not an option anymore. Data privacy and protection are now essential for businesses of all shapes and sizes and are one of the most important metrics in removing risks from the business strategy workflow. Adopting a contemporary strategy for data protection is crucial if organizations are to strengthen their digital transformation strategy. Organizations in India and around the world need to approach these developments as business strategies rather than a compliance burden because regulations like GDPR in the EU are changing not only the data protection landscape but also challenging the business landscape. The rapid evolution of technology consequentially accelerates risk and vulnerability. Security professionals must make sure they are knowledgeable about technological advancements and aware of how to protect corporate assets.

Data Privacy Day is observed annually on January 28 by the United States, Canada, Israel, and 47 European nations. Data Privacy Day aims to promote dialogue about the importance of digital privacy. Additionally, these discussions aim to motivate people and organizations to take initiative in an effort to respect privacy, protect data, and foster trust.

This article proceeds with a roadmap starting with what kind of data needs protection at first. Further, the article lays out the challenges and risks involved along with the issues faced while implementing data privacy. The later section of this article discusses how we can help both companies and policymakers succeed and positively implement data protection laws. 

What data needs to be protected?

Two main types of data that businesses must typically protect are:

• Data assets required to run and sustain your business are grouped together as business-critical data. Plans for finances, stock, and intellectual property like designs and trade secrets are a few examples. 
• Private information includes customer profiles, supplier contracts, employee and payroll information, and individual medical histories.

A solid cybersecurity strategy offers the business’s information assets differentiated protection, giving the most crucial data the highest level of security. If not, you’ll waste time and money attempting to protect every file and folder, regardless of whether they contain important intellectual property or simply pictures from the company picnic.

Risks and challenges involved along with issues the company encounters when implementing data privacy:

Organization data security requires controlled and authorized access, and virtualization makes this security model possible by enabling secure design and guiding control across the infrastructure. Given the potential risks that could result in financial losses that organizations face today, maintaining data privacy and protection has never been a simple process for people. Today, many organizations prioritize data protection as a top action item.

Risks and challenges 

involved: When sensitive data is accessed by or made available to unauthorized viewers, it constitutes a data breach or data leak and is a security incident. Data breaches may occur as a result of,

• Attacks on your security platform or important software through which hackers get around your security measures.
• Theft or destruction of equipment holding protected information
• Employees or other internal users, such as partners or contractors, may steal data.
• Human errors like accidentally sending private information to a recipient who is not 
• Authorized to see it.
• There can be a big financial hit from data breaches. It may disrupt business operations, which could reduce revenue for the company.

Issues in implementing laws that  weakens the data protection:

• The capacity to adapt their data protection mechanisms quickly and smoothly according to changes in the industry.
• The appropriate levels of adaptive capacity, quickness, and built-in reproduction for crisis recovery and business continuity needs.
• The education needed to stay up to date with industry standards and policy changes for production preparedness.
• Elimination of point products’ high prices, difficulty, and risk in 
• Favor of a flexible, 
• An optimized approach to data protection.

How we aid companies in succeeding and implementing data protection in a better way. 

• Put a data protection plan in place.
• A thorough data protection plan should be created, followed, and updated by every organization.
• A list of the various categories of data that the organization collects, stores, processes, or communicates ought to be included in that plan. 
• Every class of data should have defined and expressed protection initiatives and protocols. The data protection strategy should particularly protect what to do in the event of a data breach, whether real or hypothetical. 
• Replies to requests for data and requirements imposed by governmental authorities should be covered by the data protection plan. Each request should be carefully examined for accuracy, and the organization should demand that the government make any necessary corrections before providing the requested data. When the requested data is particularly sensitive, the organization should utilize all review and appeal rights available to it.
• For on- and off-premise recovery procedures, surveilling, and providing information on compliance with policies for data privacy, it is crucial to set up an effective data protection management system.
• To ensure that data privacy is properly integrated into all business processes, be able to detect malware in real-time, and be able to spot when employees are sharing data with outside vendors through an unsecured network, organizations must make a commitment to investing in solutions and creating a security framework involving people.
• Data encryption

Strong encryption should be required by data protection plans for sensitive data. Instead of solely relying on service providers’ encryption, which can easily be decrypted by government authorities, it is better to provide your own data encryption so that you can protect the data more thoroughly.

• Sensitive data can be transmitted more securely than through the use of standard Internet-based e-mail. 

What legislation needs to be put into place by the government to safeguard data?

Though domestic data protection frameworks have become more similar as a result of the GDPR’s global influence, local norms regarding data usage, method of transmission, and privacy continue to be highly contextual and reflect differences in beliefs about data policy. 

• Working with various sectors to jointly develop guidelines and codes of practice that can both help companies better understand their compliance obligations and regulatory authorities better adapt regulation to local conditions is one way for regulators to ease this tension. 
• Invest time in expanding your capacity and knowledge.
• Implementing data management and protection laws effectively is hampered by the general public’s and policymakers’ lack of digital literacy. 
• Additionally, citizens must be aware of their data rights and have the knowledge and skills necessary to inquire as to why and how their data is being collected.
• Encourage strategies that go beyond approval as the main justification for data protection. Relying on informed consent puts an unfair and impractical burden on people.
• Furthermore, getting consent isn’t always possible in complex data ecosystems. Therefore, policymakers should think about how to support evaluating the efficacy of various private information protection and enforcement models.
• Jurisdictions should be open and transparent about how they make reasonable decisions, including publicly disclosing the reasons why certain requests are denied or delayed.

End Note. 

All organizations’ sensitive data is at risk from malicious individuals, unintentional events, and international governments. For any organization, data protection breaches can have disastrous results. In light of this, your organization’s ultimate strategic thinking and risk control analysis should include data protection as a key component. You become aware of it is the first step of implementing data protection in the most effective form.