Data Breaches are Privacy Breaches

Author: Clarip’s Director of Sales

For many people the two most dreaded words in the English language are not “root canal” as Johnny Carson used to joke, but rather “data breach.” From Target to Yahoo to small “Mom and Pop” shops, a simple Google search of the words “data breach” will generate thousands of results, many of them merely hours old!

However, while those words get all the press, there are two more words that should scare you even more – “privacy breach!” While most people tend to think of this as a separate nightmare, the reality is that in nearly all cases, a data breach IS a privacy breach as well. Take, for example, the case of Anthem, Inc., one of the largest health insurance carriers in the world, with nearly 55,000 employees and nearly 100 billion in sales last year alone. According to reports by CNBC this week, “A data breach may have exposed personal health information of more than 18,000 Anthem Medicare enrollees, after one of the insurer’s health care consulting firms discovered that one of its employees had been involved in identity theft.”

I was reminded this week that a breach is a breach is a breach. However, the hard truth is that privacy oftentimes is overlooked. In a crisis, the experts called are security guys and the people that care about privacy are not well represented in these sort of discussions.

In a world in which the amount of data we use literally doubles every year, security and privacy are now one-in-the-same. It is best to start approaching them as part of the same problem. As Kramer once said on Seinfeld, “why does Radio Shack need to know my phone number when I go in to buy batteries?” Data collection now opens up more to protect later.

Talk to us today. Clarip is revolutionizing data and privacy management so that simple steps can help make your (data) life a whole lot easier!

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Are you ready for the new CA privacy law? Start preparing compliance efforts with Clarip for the California Consumer Privacy Act. Enforcement starts January 1, 2020 so better start planning funding in your 2019 budget now.