Custom «Security Threat and Risk Assessment» Essay Paper Sample

Data privacy means restricting access of certain information or data to only a few people. This is to ensure that the data is not compromised by being accessed by unauthorised persons. Some of the restricted data include personal information of the employees, patients’ data in hospitals, security details of dignitaries and that of the country or any other information that would be considered private. All employees should ensure that any data considered confidential should be kept under restricted access and protected from invasion (US Government printing office, 2007).

For data to remain secure and private, employees should ensure that the facilities that have been allocated for security purposes are being utilized. Equipments like computers and other facilities like back-ups should be checked regularly to confirm that security has not been breached. Back-ups will be useful in case the computer’s system crushed or data was lost by mistake. Security could be upgraded by programming or the systems used to deny unauthorised access or detect the same. This also includes viruses and spam. Installing antivirus and clearance levels is also an important way of ensuring that the data is secure (Petkovic & Jonker, 2007).

The law recognizes that data privacy and security has penalties for those who hack or access private data. Employees should report any cases of data interference that compromises the privacy of data. The computer forensics department assists to detect any intrusion to private data especially by hackers or computer frauds. They should also be aware that they are not supposed to give away any data or information considered to be private. This should only happen after authorization. If any employees are found guilty of revealing unauthorised data, they will be penalised under the law of personal data privacy and security Act. It protects the confidentiality of data.