9 Data Security & Privacy Best Practices to Remember in 2024

As global digitization becomes more prominent across all industries, the need for better data security and privacy best practices is growing all the more apparent.

In August 2023, IT Governance reported that there were 73 disclosed cybersecurity incidents that resulted in an astounding number of compromised records — more than 79 million in total. As of August, the total number of data breaches for 2023 had surpassed 700, with more than 692 million total records exposed.

To put it plainly, improved data security practices have never been more vital.

As we pass the final quarter of 2023, organizations around the globe need to consider the effectiveness of their current approach to data security. For your company to move into the new year with confidence, the time is now to begin implementing stronger data security strategies.

Looking at recent data and research, let’s dive right into the nine major best practices for data security and privacy in 2024.

Top 9 Data Security and Privacy Best Practices Every Company Should Follow in 2024

1. Regular Data Security Compliance Assessments

Over the next year, regulators are likely to ramp up their focus on data security practices.
The regulatory standards your organization is subject to depend on multiple factors, such as which jurisdictions you operate in and your specific industry.

From a local perspective, organizations need to be aware of the regulatory bodies that govern data security and privacy in a specific region. For instance, regulation of consumer privacy and security in the U.S. often falls under the authority of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), while the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) holds this regulatory power under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) within the EU.

Meanwhile, from an industry perspective, additional regulatory standards may apply according to your exact business type and the products or services you offer.

Let’s look at three industries and how their regulatory standards differ:

Today’s reality is that society has become inexplicably interwoven with technology — and as a result, regulators are fixing their eyes on cybersecurity and data privacy best practices for 2024.

To keep up with this increasing focus on all things data, your organization needs a strong and well-documented approach to data security compliance, as well as the tools and resources necessary to stay ahead of the regulatory curve.

2. Plan for Data Localization

As discussed, data regulations can vary from region to region and from country to country. Likewise, so can the tools and resources needed to leverage data capabilities in different areas of the world.

Data localization is the process of storing data in the same geographic location it originates from. Beyond security concerns alone, data localization often plays a key role in maintaining national sovereignty and economics for each country enforcing data localization laws.

When it comes to data localization standards, they can differ depending on where you are in the world, making it necessary for your organization to have a strong grasp of the requirements for storing and using data within any given location. Whether it’s business data or personal consumer data, you need to know how that data is stored and kept secure within a specific region.

In many cases, a country will mandate that its citizens’ data must be stored within the country’s borders, requiring organizations to either invest in data-storage solutions or outsource their data storage needs to providers within each country the company operates in.

The year 2024 is likely to see more and more global collaboration between different businesses, industries, and technology service providers. For your organization to embrace global expansion successfully, you need to implement a clear strategy for data localization.

3. Enhance Employee Training on Data Security

What’s the biggest factor influencing data breaches and other security incidents today?

While many underlying factors can lead to a failure of data security, one of the biggest factors driving cybersecurity and data privacy incidents in 2023 is human error.

In 2020, a Stanford research report revealed that roughly 88% of all data breaches occurred due to a mistake made by employees of the company. Additionally, this research found that nearly 50% of employees state they are either “very certain” or “pretty certain” they have made a mistake at work that contributed to a security issue at the company.

As for the most common form of human error in workplace cybersecurity, it often comes down to overall awareness of online and email phishing scams.

While it’s nice to believe we can all identify an email scam when we see one, the reality is that cybercriminals are only growing more sophisticated in their approach to fraud. Phishing emails can look remarkably credible. In a world where hybrid and remote work has become commonplace, these scams are a bigger risk than ever as work environments grow more diverse.

To address this challenge to data security and privacy practices requires a two-fold approach:

1. Provide thorough and ongoing training to employees on data security and privacy best practices.
2. Enforce a zero-trust policy within your organization which limits the opportunities for a breach.

We will discuss the zero-trust approach more in a moment, but to improve your internal employee training for data security and privacy, the key is to make this training a regular part of the workplace.

To achieve the greatest impact with your data security and privacy training, you must ensure your employees are not forced to spend extra hours and effort on them.

Instead, data security training should be woven into the daily, weekly, and monthly routine of your organization. As a result, data security and privacy best practices remain foremost in employees’ minds and they are given access to the necessary resources to follow these.

4. Adopt a Zero-Trust Approach to Security

For the second part of reducing human error in data security processes, we have the zero-trust approach.

The zero-trust approach is all about reducing the overall trust within a digital infrastructure by requiring users to regularly authorize their identity. Zero-trust is a framework for digital infrastructures — particularly those dealing with highly sensitive personal and financial information — that monitors five main areas of interest within the system:

5. Secure Digital Data Environments with Access Controls

What makes a data environment truly secure?

Whether or not your organization chooses to implement a zero-trust approach to data security practices, you still need to ensure that your digital data environments are well-protected. This requires not only compliance, but also excellent internal data integrity and management practices.

One of the most important aspects of a secure data environment is access control — the implementation of specific controls that determine who is an authorized user, what information they can access, and their overall role within the system. For each employee in your system, you should have access controls in place that define how, when, and to what degree they can use and access data.

The access control process can be broken into three main steps:

6. Implement AI-Powered Cybersecurity Tools

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are starting to play a more prominent part in data security and privacy best practices.

In a recent Allied Market Research report, it is revealed that the market for AI in cybersecurity is predicted to reach $154.8 billion by 2032.

As of 2022, the market is valued at more than $19 billion, with an expected growth rate of 23.6% from now until the end of the forecast period.

Additionally, the report predicts that the software segment within cybersecurity will continue to account for the largest share of revenue related to AI, stating:

Though AI presents numerous advantages for cybersecurity — particularly in terms of boosting overall efficiency through automation capabilities — the technology also comes with its own unique set of data security risks. This makes it critically important for organizations to not only implement the technology, but also have clear security standards in place to help manage AI-powered tools and solutions.

For many companies, this can necessitate a partnership with a technology provider specialized in AI products and services.

7. Consider the Risks of Hybrid & Remote Work Environments

The traditional workplace model has evolved drastically over recent years.

Catalyzed by the mass shutdowns of offices and in-person workplaces during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, many organizations have come to see the benefits of offering remote and hybrid work environments. Along with cutting back on operational costs associated with traditional work offices, remote and hybrid workplaces provide a level of flexibility that can boost overall employee satisfaction.

Yet, these work environments also come with a host of new cybersecurity risks, especially when it comes to data security and privacy best practices. We have already discussed several of these risks, but to quickly recap, here are the three major data security risks associated with the work-from-home model:

Adopting a one-size-fits-all solution to data security and privacy best practices is not enough for modern companies to deal with the risks of hybrid work environments. Instead, a personalized approach that can assess and minimize the specific risks of each employee is the key to comprehensive data security that protects information belonging to both employees and clients.

8. Limit the Use of Personal Data

While it is crucial to have adequate data for generating business insights and training AI models, it is also vital to consider the impact your use of personal data has on consumer trust.

According to McKinsey research, consumers place the highest level of trust in companies that limit the overall use of personal data within their digital processes, products, and services. In a survey of more than 1,000 consumers, the top five responses regarding companies consumers trust most included:

1. Companies that do not ask for information that is not relevant to their product (52% of respondents)
2. Companies that react quickly to hacks and breaches (50% of respondents)
3. Companies that do not ask for too much personal information (48% of respondents)
4. Companies that proactively report a hack or breach (46% of respondents)
5. Companies that have a trustworthy brand (43% of respondents) and companies that do not collect passive data, such as through click or browsing history (43% of respondents)

As your organization works to improve data security and privacy practices, it is paramount to keep consumer preferences a priority. McKinsey’s research findings reveal that today’s customers are looking for companies that not only respect their personal privacy but also act swiftly and deliberately in the event of a data breach.

9. Improve Vendor Risk Management

Our ninth and final best practice for data security and privacy in 2024 is to improve your approach to vendor risk management.

Some of the biggest data breaches in recent years have occurred due to cybersecurity vulnerabilities in vendor systems that are connected to an organization’s digital infrastructure. One of the most recent examples of this is the compromise of the software vendor MOVEit, which led to both the Oregon and Louisiana Departments of Motor Vehicles falling victim to data leaks.

For the Oregon DMV, 3.5 million driver’s licenses and identity cards were exposed. As for the Louisiana DMV, at least 6 million records were exposed during the breach.

These massive leaks are notable for one glaring reason — they occurred in governmental departments, not independent organizations. This reveals above all that anyone can be vulnerable to vendor risk, making it all the more crucial to be hyper-diligent when it comes to the vendors and providers you work with.

Data Security & Privacy Best Practices: Conclusion

As 2024 approaches, it is vital to take a look at your data and security practices and ensure they’re up-to-date and strong enough to cope with the challenges businesses will face in the new year. If you remember the nine best practices we’ve outlined above, you’ll be setting your team up for a successful and resilient year.

If you do seek out partners and providers to help you improve your data security and privacy best practices, ensure you search for experts with a wide breadth of proven history work who can provide you with the end-to-end support and transformative services you need to build strong data security practices and enhance your overall digital infrastructure.