Good afternoon, all.

This is the second newsletter this week as it is the second day of Data Privacy Week. Data privacy is so important that in 2022, The National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) expanded Data Privacy Day into what is now Data Privacy Week.

NCA has graciously put together some very telling statistics to help make the case for stronger privacy protections. These stats come from various studies and reports and I have included the source in parentheses:

• 92% 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)
• 45% 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)
• 79% of internet users globally feel they have completely lost control over their personal data (LegalJobsIO)
• Only about 33% of consumers believe that companies are currently using their data responsibly (McKinsey)
• About 79% of US adults say they have little or no control over the data that the government or companies collect about them (Pew Research Center)
• 63% of Internet users believe most companies aren’t transparent about how their data is used (Tableau)
• Personal customer information (such as name, email, and password) is included in 44% of data breaches. (IBM)
• 58% of users said they would be willing to share data to avoid paying for online content. (Statista)
• 81%, 71% of Americans are concerned about how [Companies, the Government] use the data collected about them (Pew Research Center)
• 67%, 77% of Americans have little to no understanding about what [Companies, the Government] does with the data collected about them (Pew Research Center)
• 70% of business leaders say their company increased collection of consumer data over the last year but 62% say their company should do more to strengthen data protection measures (KPMG)
• One-third of users have terminated relationships with companies over data privacy lapses, including social media platforms, retailers, credit card providers, ISPs and banks or financial institutions. (Cisco)
• 40% of consumers say they don’t trust companies to ethically use their data. (KPMG)

These are some very telling statistics. In order to be more confident with how your data is being used, don’t be afraid to end your relationships with companies that you don’t trust. And if you absolutely must use that company and its services, don’t be afraid to ask them questions. Just remember that it is *your* data!

Thank you all so much for all you do to protect the Institute and its data. Please protect your own data, too! If you ever have questions about data privacy or about cybersecurity, I am here to help you, so please don’t hesitate to ask!

Sandy

Important Note: Thank you so much for sharing these e-newsletters with family, friends, clients, students, and anyone else who may benefit from the information. I would like to stress that you should keep your students in mind, as non-employee students will not get this information without someone sharing. If anyone has an email group for students who are not employees of your department, please let me know what that address is and I can include it. I do this as a blind copy so student names and addresses will not show up!