A convergence of privacy and security yields the biggest gains for business

Commissioner Cavoukian and Oracle emphasize the importance of proactively incorporating both privacy and security into networked technology

TORONTO, Jan. 28, 2013 /CNW/ - 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.

In the lead up to International Privacy Day, Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, and Oracle's Director of Product Management, Marc Chanliau have 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. Entitled "Privacy and Security by Design: A Convergence of Paradigms," 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 Commissioner 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? Gain a competitive advantage and make privacy payoff by embedding it along with security."

Though both concepts have been implemented in business plans around the world, this paper 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. 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.

To mark International Privacy Day, Commissioner Cavoukian has released a special video message that can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/vaoHg0o-NAI.

Privacy by Design was unanimously approved as an international framework for privacy protection in 2010, and has been translated into 29 languages. Privacy by Design seeks to proactively embed privacy into the design specifications of information technologies, organizational practices and networked system architectures. To achieve the strongest protection possible, Privacy by Design should ideally be applied when initiatives are in their nascent stages, including the emerging personal data ecosystem.

About the IPC

The Information and Privacy Commissioner is appointed by, and reports to, the Ontario Legislative Assembly, and is independent of the government of the day. The Commissioner's mandate includes overseeing the access and privacy provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, as well as the Personal Health Information Protection Act, which applies to both public and private sector health information custodians. The Commissioner's mandate also includes helping to educate the public about access and privacy issues.

SOURCE: Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario

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