For many of us, protecting our data is one of the things that’s pushed to the back burner—bumped down the mental to-do list by the rising cost of living, bills, and everyday concerns.
What we might not realize is that data privacy—a vague term that sounds borrowed from legal manuscripts—does in fact have a daily impact on our lives. Most “Terms of Service” agreements hide clauses that allow companies to profit from your data—from the WIFI you sign onto at Starbucks to your shopping history on Instacart. Nearly every website you visit greets you with a cookie consent pop-up, asking for permission to track your behavior.
This year, for Data Privacy Week, we’re going to break down what data privacy really means, how it differs from data security, and the top strategies for keeping your information safe.
Data privacy, protection, and security: what’s the difference?
Although these terms get used interchangeably, they have different purposes and definitions.
Data privacy is a legal/regulatory concept
Data privacy is a legal and regulatory concept that governs how personal information is collected, used, shared, and stored. It ensures that data is handled responsibly and in compliance with frameworks such as GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA. Privacy defines who is allowed to access personal data, under what conditions, and for what purposes. At its core, privacy is about individual rights, consent, and responsible data use.
Data security is the technology that protects data
Data security is the technology and controls that protect data from unauthorized access, corruption, or loss. It focuses on preventing incidents before they occur by using safeguards such as encryption, authentication, access control, and threat monitoring. Security ensures that data cannot be viewed, altered, or stolen by unauthorized parties. In essence, privacy defines the rules, and security enforces them.
Data protection keeps your data available and recoverable
Data protection is the broader framework that ensures data remains confidential, intact, and available throughout its lifecycle. It encompasses the processes and technologies that prevent data loss, maintain data integrity, and guarantee recoverability after an incident. Data protection safeguards against unauthorized access, tampering, corruption, accidental deletion, and disruptions that cut off access to critical information.
How the three interact
Data privacy creates legal obligations for how information must be handled. Data security provides the technical safeguards that enforce those obligations. Data protection ensures that data remains resilient, recoverable, and accessible even when things go wrong.
Top Tips to Protect Your Personal Data Privacy
Strong data hygiene doesn’t require a cybersecurity degree. All it requires are consistent habits that reduce your exposure and make you a harder target.
1. Use a password manager
Create long, unique passwords for every account, and avoid reusing passwords. Let the password manager generate and store strong passwords for you—many platforms even offer built‑in generators that let you choose length, character types, or create passwords that are easier to remember or pronounce. The best ones on the market are LastPass, 1Password, NordPass, RoboForm, and Dashlane, to name a few.
2. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) Everywhere
Although these are annoying to use, MFA blocks the majority of account‑takeover attempts. Use app‑based authenticators instead of SMS when possible as these are more secure.
3. Keep devices and apps updated
Updates fix vulnerabilities that attackers are known to exploit, so keeping your systems current is one of the simplest ways to stay protected. Enabling automatic updates removes the mental exhaustion of remembering to check for patches.
4. Be cautious with links and attachments
Phishing remains the number one cause of breaches; if an email appears to be off-brand, assume that is a scam unless proven otherwise. Always hover over links to ensure it’s safe before proceeding to the site, verify the email address of the sender, and never download attachments from unverified sources. The most reliable indicators of a phishing email include noticeable grammatical or formatting errors, mismatched email domains, and content designed to provoke urgency or pressure you into taking immediate action.
5. Don't let social platforms collect your data
Unless you alter your data privacy settings, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etc., will track your every thumb scroll, location, activity status, marketing/advertising preferences, and the very posts you’re looking at.
For step-by-step tutorials on how to control Instagram’s access to your location, limit ads and tracking, delete or review your data, and manage third-party tracking, head over to Wired’s article, “How To Stop Instagram From Tracking Everything You Do.”
6. Encrypt sensitive files
Encrypting sensitive files is another way to prevent unauthorized access to your data. Built‑in tools like BitLocker on Windows and FileVault on macOS allow you to encrypt your device so that even if it’s lost or stolen, the information stored on it remains protected.
The same applies to external drives and USBs—encrypting them ensures that portable storage doesn’t become an easy entry point for data exposure. This practice is especially important for people who routinely handle sensitive information, such as landlords storing rental applications with Social Security numbers, recruiters managing candidate records, healthcare administrators handling patient forms, or financial professionals keeping tax documents. Anyone responsible for personal, financial, or confidential data should treat encryption as a non‑negotiable layer of protection.
7. Implement a strong backup strategy
Whenever possible, use immutable backups—copies that can’t be altered or encrypted by an attacker—and store them separately from your primary device and primary backup copies.
For the individual, keep an external hard drive disconnected when not in use or relying on a cloud service with versioning. For organizations, it means implementing a formal backup strategy with immutable storage, offsite copies, and routine recovery testing to ensure critical data can be restored quickly and reliably.
8. Use a trusted VPN on public Wi-Fi
Using a trusted VPN on public Wi‑Fi is a great way to protect your browsing from interception and prevent strangers on the same network from seeing what you’re doing online. Public hotspots are inherently risky, so it’s best to avoid logging into sensitive accounts—such as banking, work, email, or healthcare portals—when you’re connected to an open network.
9. Monitor your accounts and credit
Monitor your accounts for unusual activity across your financial, email, and social accounts, and enable alerts for logins, transactions, password changes, or anything else that signals unauthorized access. Consistent monitoring helps you catch issues early, before they escalate into something more serious.
Forming healthy data privacy habits in conjunction with using smart tools goes a long way toward protecting your digital footprint. For seven more strategies on how to protect your data, please read Zero Trust Data Protection (ZTDP): How to Protect Your Data.
Why Absolute Immutability Matters for Data Privacy Week
Data Privacy Week is our annual reminder that truly protecting information requires both good habits and proven technologies to guarantee our data remains safe even in the event of a ransomware attack.
As individuals, we can bolster our privacy through stronger passwords, password managers, MFA, encryption, and vetting emails for phishing campaigns. Organizations face a more complex challenge: ensuring sensitive data remains accurate, unaltered, and recoverable.
The Object First appliance directly supports that responsibility with Absolute Immutability. By safeguarding backup data the moment it’s written and eliminating root access, backdoors, and OS-level vulnerabilities, Object First ensures that sensitive information cannot be altered or deleted by bad actors or insiders.
Privacy regulations can do their best to define how data should be handled, but only absolutely immutable backup storage ensures that data remains private and cannot be leaked, altered, deleted, or misused.
This Data Privacy Week, we hope that you’re able to develop a few new personal practices to protect your digital footprint!
