Both should be intertwined from the outset, embedded in default settings
As the value of information and the need to manage it responsibly is growing dramatically, it is vital for organizations to incorporate both privacy and security into their networked data systems and technologies, as the default settings, according to Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner.
Cavoukian released a white paper which demonstrates that jointly building privacy and security into the design of systems and operations, from the outset, leads to long-term business success.
The paper explores how the concepts of “security by design” and “privacy by design” are complementary and how it is necessary to intertwine the two proactively in the planning stages.
“Security and privacy are integral to an organization’s priorities, project objectives, design processes, and planning operations,” said Cavoukian. “By taking a proactive approach, it is indeed possible, and far more desirable, to embed both privacy and security. Why settle for one when you can have both?”
Though both concepts have been implemented in business plans around the world, Privacy and Security by Design: A Convergence of Paradigms is the first to examine the similarities, with a focus on their mutually complementary benefits.
Privacy by design is the international standard for effective privacy protection, emphasizing the need to adopt a proactive rather than a reactive compliance approach to the protection of privacy. It provides an actionable framework for embedding privacy directly into all of the designs and operations of an organization, not just into information technology, according to Cavoukian.
The concept of security by design illustrates the necessity of designing software systems that are secure from the ground up, minimizing the impact of a system breach when security vulnerability is discovered, thus preserving privacy and ensuring identity propagation across heterogeneous vendors.
By viewing the two concepts as complementary, organizations will recognize that both privacy and security need to be embedded by default into the architecture, design and construction of information processes and technologies.
