Data Privacy Week 2022

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January 24 - 28th is Data Privacy Week

Data Privacy Week is an annual campaign to spread awareness about data privacy and educate individuals on how to secure their personal information. It also works to encourage businesses to respect privacy and be more transparent about how they collect, store and use data.

This year, Data Privacy Week 2022, spotlights the value of information and how to “Keep It Private”. Get started with NCA’s Manage Your Privacy Settings page for settings of social media accounts, retail stores, apps, and more.

How to break down barriers to Privacy careers for underrepresented populations

The UC Berkeley Privacy Office hosted a live-streamed panel discussion. The panel addressed the lack of diversity in the Privacy field and discussed how we can increase opportunities for graduates and young professionals of color, as well as for current UC employees in other fields who might be interested in a career change to a Privacy position.  While the Privacy field has grown exponentially over the past decade and career opportunities for privacy specialists are booming, it is still hard for young professionals of color to get a foot in the door to gain experience in the field. 

Panelists will describe their experiences in the field, provide advice to graduates and current employees hoping to break into the field, and will discuss how current Privacy officials can make the field more accessible to underrepresented populations.

Panelists include Privacy Officials and Experts from across California:
  • Cheryl Washington, CISO, UC Davis (and former Privacy Officer at UCOP);
  • Pegah Parsi, Chief Privacy Officer, UC San Diego;
  • Thea Bullock, Chief Privacy Officer, UC Irvine;
  • Latoya Tyson-Akil, Compliance and Privacy Officer, County of Napa;
  • Dierdre Mulligan, UC Berkeley Professor, School of Information, Chair of the Academic Senate Computing and Information Technology Committee, Faculty Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

Keep IT Private

Everything you do online generates data. There is data about your activities, behaviors, and interests. There’s your personal data, like your social security and driver’s license numbers. And there’s data about the physical you, like health data. It’s easy to feel a lack of control over the information collected about you. However, there are steps you can take to learn about the types of data you’re generating online, and how it’s collected, shared, and used.

Tips for Owning Your Privacy:

Follow these steps to better manage your personal information and make informed decisions about who receives your data:

1. Understand the privacy/convenience tradeoff

Understand the privacy/convenience tradeoff: 

  • Make informed decisions about what to share. 
  • Consider the amount of data that apps collect vs the benefits you receive in return. 
  • Be wary of apps or services that require access to information that is not required or relevant for the services they offer. 
  • Keep your apps secure by updating them and deleting unused apps.

2. Manage your privacy

  • Check the privacy and security settings on services and apps.
  • Get started with NCA’s Manage Your Privacy Settings page for settings of social media accounts, retail stores, apps, and more.

3. Protect your data

  • Data privacy and data security go hand in hand. 
  • Keep your data secure by creating long, unique passwords and store them in a password manager. Berkeley offers free LastPass Premium!
  • Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible, especially on accounts with sensitive information. MFA has been found to block 99.9% of automated attacks when enabled and can ensure your data is protected, even in the event of a data breach.

Learn more about data privacy at UC Berkeley: 

Visit the Office of Ethics Privacy website. There you can learn more about things like protecting yourself from doxxing and other privacy-related resources.