How Is Data Privacy Different from Data Security?

by | Jan 1, 2023

data privacy, personal data collection, Data Privacy, Cambridge analytics

In the digital world, organizations face a multitude of challenges related to the privacy and security of data pertaining to their employees, customers, and partners. The sheer volume of data that enterprises handle, and store is humongous, which in turn drives a greater need for data protection practices. However, many organizations use the terms ‘data security’ and ‘data privacy’ interchangeably. They believe that their data security policy covers data privacy and vice versa. However, this is not the case. Although the two terms are strongly interconnected, they are not the same.

By Neelesh Kripalani, Chief Technology Officer, Clover Infotech

Data privacy is a part of data security and is related to the proper handling of data – how you collect it, how you use it, and how you ensure compliance. On the other hand, data security keeps that data safe from unauthorized access by means of encryption, key management, authentication etc. Data security is the mechanism that works to ensure data privacy.

Let us look at why data privacy is important, and how it is linked to data security.

Data Privacy

Data is one of the most important assets that an organization possesses. Tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon have all built empires atop the data economy. However, transparency in how businesses request consent and manage the data that they’ve collected is vital to building trust and accountability with customers. Privacy is the right of an individual to be free from uninvited surveillance. With the increasing adoption of digital, the world is coming to the realization that the strict guidelines designed to protect personal data privacy are in the best interest of both, organizations as well as individuals.

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the most stringent regulations to date. Several other countries are implementing regulations after the privacy mandates of the GDPR. While such enacted and proposed regulations are a huge step in ensuring data privacy, without a solid data security foundation and technological solutions in place, data privacy simply cannot happen.

See also: How Federated Learning Can Solve Security and Data Privacy Challenges

Data Security

Data security consists of solutions for preventing unauthorized access to systems, networks, and applications that maintain data. More broadly, you must have controls in place to protect sensitive data from malicious attacks and data exploitation. As data privacy is not a type of technology, data security solutions take on the burden of keeping sensitive data secure. While data privacy establishes what information should be protected, data security outlines how the data should be protected.

As part of a robust data security program, you must use tools and solutions to mitigate the risks of a data breach. Here are some of the useful ones:

  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Access Control such as Identity and Access Management (IAM)
  • Network Security
  • Data Encryption
  • Data Access Monitoring (DAM)
  • Incident Response

Wrapping up

Data Privacy and Data Security go hand-in-hand. Organizations must not make the mistake of choosing one over the other or using it interchangeably.  There are different ways to properly address both. Staying up to date on the best practices and updating your data policies can help you to safeguard yourself and your customers from cyberattacks and data breaches.


This is a contributed/authored article. Digital Creed did not verify any of the assertions made by the contributing author.

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Brian Pereira
Brian Pereira
Brian Pereira is an Indian journalist and editor based in Mumbai. He founded Digital Creed in 2015. A technology buff, former computer instructor, and software developer, Brian has 29 years of journalism experience (since 1994). Brian is the former Editor of CHIP India, InformationWeek India and CISO Mag. He has served India's leading newspaper groups: The Times of India and The Indian Express. Presently, he serves the Information Security Media Group, as Sr. Director, Editorial. You'll find his most current work on CIO Inc. During his career he wrote (and continues to write) 5000+ technology articles. He conducted more than 450 industry interviews. Brian writes on aviation, drones, cybersecurity, tech startups, cloud, data center, AI/ML/Gen AI, IoT, Blockchain etc. He achieved certifications from the EC-Council (Certified Secure Computer User) and from IBM (Basics of Cloud Computing). Apart from those, he has successfully completed many courses on Content Marketing and Business Writing. He recently achieved a Certificate in Cybersecurity (CC) from the international certification body ISC2. Follow Brian on Twitter (@creed_digital) and LinkedIn. Email Brian at: [email protected]
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