Data Privacy Day and Higher Education
Everyone on campus is responsible for keeping students’ and other community members’ personal information private and secure; what better time to learn more about privacy best practices, and help spread the word.
Today is Data Privacy Day! While there is plenty of great general privacy advice, EDUCAUSE has provided a useful guide intended specifically for higher education institutions — January 2018: Privacy Is Our Shared Responsibility.
Their advice to campus technology leaders emphasized three areas:
- Know and understand your privacy policies.
- Always start with privacy.
- Keep and use data securely.
EDCUCAUSE also encouraged spreading the word about the importance of privacy to your colleagues and audience – by writing blog posts or newsletter articles, sharing word about Data Privacy Day on social media, or adding a line to your email signature – and they shared several informative videos that can help reinforce this message.
The National Cyber Security Alliance, through its StaySafeOnline campaign, organizes Data Privacy Day worldwide, every January 28, and provides even more useful information so that you can get involved, or at least become more privacy aware. Don’t collect more information than you have to, protect what you do collect, be open and honest about privacy policies, and encourage a culture that respects privacy and understands the importance of security, not only within your organization, but with vendors and partners you work with. These key steps will go a long way toward keeping us all safe online.
The EDUCAUSE post is part of their broader, Year-Round Campus Security Awareness Campaign. Stay tuned for additional cyber security updates throughout the year, especially in October — National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
