Its important to know the difference
A great example is Google’s ad network. While connections to it are securely encrypted, Google’s trackers still appear on 75% of the top million websites, tracking you across the web, inundating you with highly targeted ads that follow you everywhere. There is security, but no privacy.
Another example is the antivirus company AVG (owned by Avast). In 2015, they updated their privacy policy to be more “transparent.” Wired magazine rightfully noted something alarming in their new privacy policy.
In general, privacy professionals categorize people’s attitudes into three groups:
- Privacy fundamentalists (a strong desire to protect privacy),
- Privacy unconcerned (a low desire to protect privacy) and
- Privacy pragmatists (people whose concerns about privacy will vary depending on the context).
With the weekly reports of cyber events and data breaches, cyber-security is the trending topic. While the concern is genuine, there's some confusion between information privacy and information security. simply because information is private doesn't necessarily mean it's secure. Executives, compliance professionals and IT departments must understand the difference and take necessary measures to secure private data within the cyber age. With the recent rash of information breaches and cyber incidents, companies and individuals alike are understandably concerned about cyber-security. in an exceedingly world where consumers are more tuned in to personal information being collected for gain, yet security of this information is sort of an afterthought, a knowledge breach can ruin a company’s reputation and financial reports.
Security without privacy is like having a door made from bullet-proof glass. Sure, nobody is getting inside, but your personal life remains on display.
