How do i keep my Personal Data safe?

Personal Data is valuable information that can be used for variety of purposes, both legitimate and illegitimate. It is therefore important to protect Personal Data from unwanted access, theft, leakage or misrepresentation. For this, various security measures need to be applied, both at the level of legislation, technology and behaviour.

Types of Personal Data

There are different types of Personal Data that may be of interest to attackers, for example:

• biographical data such as name, surname, date of birth, nationality, marital status, etc.;
• contact details such as address, phone, email, social media, etc.;
• financial data, such as bank account numbers, card numbers, payment systems, tax returns, etc.;
• medical data such as diagnoses, prescriptions, tests, medical history, etc.;
• biometric data such as fingerprints, retina, voice, face, etc.

Personal Data may be collected, stored, processed, transferred or destroyed by different entities such as:

• government institutions such as the tax office, passport office, police, etc.;
• commercial organisations such as banks, insurance companies, online shops, advertising agencies, etc.;
• non-profit organisations such as educational institutions, medical institutions, charitable foundations, etc.;
• individuals such as employees, clients, partners, friends, relatives, etc.

Personal Data can be exposed to various threats such as:

• unauthorised access, where someone accesses Personal Data without owner's permission or lawful basis;
• theft, where someone steals Personal Data for purpose of gain or harm;
• leakage, where Personal Data is made publicly available due to error, negligence or malicious intent;
• misrepresentation, where Personal Data is altered, falsified or destroyed.

Personal Data can be used for variety of purposes, both lawful and unlawful, for example:

• identification, where Personal Data is used to confirm identity or membership of particular group;
• authentication, where Personal Data is used to grant access to certain resources or services;
• profiling, where Personal Data is used to analyse behaviours, interests, preferences or needs;
• marketing, where Personal Data is used to promote products, services, brands or ideas;
• fraud, where Personal Data is used for deception, extortion, blackmail or other criminal activities.

How to protect Personal Data

Various security measures need to be applied to protect Personal Data, both at the level of legislation, technology and behaviour.

Data protection at the technology level

At the level of technology, there are various means and methods to protect Personal Data from unauthorised access, theft, leakage or corruption. For example:

• encryption, where Personal Data is converted into an incomprehensible code that can only be decrypted with the special key;
• hashing, where Personal ata is converted into unique set of characters that cannot be recovered back;
• digital signature, when Personal Data is provided with a special code that confirms its authenticity and integrity;
• anonymisation, where Personal Data is processed in such way that it is not possible to identify a specific individual or group;
• pseudonymisation, where Personal Data is replaced by arbitrary identifiers that are not linked to real data.

Data protection at the behavioural level

At the behavioural level, there are various rules and guidelines that help to protect Personal Data from carelessness, inattention or malice. For example:

• not to disclose your Personal Data to third parties without need or authorisation;
• do not use the same or simple passwords for different accounts or services;
• do not to trust all sources of information, but to check their credibility and reputation.

By following these security measures, you can keep your Personal Data safe and protect yourself from unwanted consequences. Be careful and responsible with your data, and it will serve you well.