Data collection and analysis are inseparable parts of doing business in the 21st century. This information is recorded nearly every step of the way. Every time you browse the internet, search on Google, swipe your credit card at the mall, open your mobile app, or check in on Facebook some sort of data is collected and stored. Every company collects data. Such types of information when collected gives the picture about a variety of demographics and is called big data. Since this can often contain sensitive information, it is important to handle and protect it ethically.
Constant information collection can be a security and privacy concern, especially when you voluntarily allow others to collect it. As we saw from the Sony hack, private email chains can become public with little forewarning. There are however ways that companies can protect this confidential data that they collect, thus maintaining data security and the privacy of their customers.
Russ Glass, the Head of Marketing Products for LinkedIn, spoke about companies protecting themselves and their customers from data breaches. He said that, "Companies need to commit to mastering the basics to protect the data consumers have entrusted them with: businesses must patch and secure the databases, give only select employees access, and place the databases behind firewalls."
Russ continues, "They also need to encrypt and tokenize the individual data behind the firewall. Corporations must commit to constantly improving and refining security efforts, because the cybercriminals are constantly honing their skills in this computer security arms race."
The first way in which companies (and by extension, customers) can protect information is to collect (and give) only what is necessary. Giving companies too much personally identifiable information can backfire. Not all of the information customers give a particular company will even be usable, but it's loss can be damaging to those individuals. Thus the ethical collection of data is important in this digital age.
Another method of data collection is called aggregate data. Analytics programs are expensive Rather than collecting specific information about individuals, companies might instead collect information from large groups of users. This allows data scientists to see patterns in user behavior analytics without identifying specific individuals. This way if the information is compromised, nothing but the aggregate data is lost.
Perhaps the most important thing a company can do the ensure the protection of sensitive information is to have a data disposal protocol in place. Many times this means limiting the length of time that data is stored and then properly disposing of it after that date. Employees should be adequately trained on how to eliminate this information, including both physical and digital copies. These data disposal protocols often include precedents and procedures for recovering data, should the wrong information be purged or to cooperate with federal or state inquiries.
It's a fine balance between ever-helpful business intelligence and protecting privacy. Reasonable data collection and management is important to successfully run a business because it arms companies with meaningful insight into how to stay competitive. Businesses must always remember to have the best interests of their customers in mind.
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