Sacrificing Privacy for Security: Pros and Cons
Successful business digitalization raises the challenge of finding a balance between respecting user privacy and solid security strategies wrapped up in a tech ecosystem. Some widely adopted measures that initially aimed to enhance the software security level can damage customer data privacy. Moreover, such concerns become even more pressing for the industries that dictate their term for handling the personal data of individuals and user privacy as a whole, requiring adherence to domain-specific regulatory compliance.
On the other hand, robust security is not a mere wish but an actual necessity for any business that strives to engage and retain customers, establishing trust, dedication, and ongoing relationships. In this article, we’ll consider whether it is worth sacrificing user privacy for software security purposes and if it’s possible to devise a compromise between these two challenges.
Pros of Sacrificing Privacy for Security
There is a wide range of domains where sacrificing privacy for security is practically necessary. Industries such as healthcare, fintech, e-commerce, and even government services all use personal user data in one way or another to provide quality service with a high level of security. Nonetheless, industry-specific regulations of domains that actively interact with user data typically protect customer privacy, putting it at the center. Putting it into practice, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) aims to set regulations for medical vendors and healthcare workers to use and disclose protected health information (PHI). This way, compliance, and legislative acts often secure the customers’ confidentiality, requiring substantial penalties in case of their violation.
There are some cases where access to information and tracking of users’ activity within the software solution strengthen data security and help protect their personal information from cyberattacks, identity thefts, and a host of other unpleasant consequences associated with data leaks. When it comes to the case when the audience also receives transparent and clearly defined terms of use for their sensitive data and voluntarily accepts them, there is a harmony between respected privacy and strong security. Customers thus can ensure their data is in safe hands, building trusted relationships with businesses and service vendors.
Businesses, in turn, have the opportunity to avoid penalties for regulatory violations, minimize reputational losses, and prevent operational issues that can be triggered by successful cyberattacks on a tech product. Such cases have already occurred even in seemingly very secure applications, resulting in fines and lawsuits for the providers of these applications. Needless to say, optimized data collection, further analysis, and detection of suspicious user behavior facilitated by reduced privacy are also efficient in tracking and preventing more serious criminal activities, sometimes even terrorism.
Cons of Sacrificing Privacy for Security
In practice, some privacy violations can be caused by excessive data collection and sharing, inadequately long retention, overreliance and surveillance, insufficient transparency that restricts user control, and invasive monitoring. Of course, such excessive privacy breaches, even for security purposes, are already a violation of civil liberties. Furthermore, there are a lot of regulations that take care of the user’s privacy, prioritizing it and ensuring customers are aware of how their data is leveraged.
Besides, many users may be discouraged by overly strict rules and compromised privacy, as it is, in some ways, a threat to democracy and individual rights. This fact is especially relevant when users face obscure privacy terms and conditions, leaving them needing clarification on exactly how their data will be used. In addition, any system has weaknesses, and even the most secure products can be susceptible to hacking. If, in this case, the application heavily relied on client data, putting the business and the application users at risk.
Nowadays, employment with ethical user data is a must if you would like to become a credible market player who engages and retains customers. With the rise of privacy-preserving technologies, businesses of any industry must give users enough freedom of anonymity and keep them up with the way their information is leveraged, processed, and stored.
Sacrificing Privacy for Security: the Look from Both Sides
For modern and conscious users, completely sacrificing privacy for security is not the optimal solution. The core concern for businesses lies in the need to harmonize data security and reasonable, adequate privacy terms. As an entrepreneur with an outstanding idea for a product or service that requires collecting, processing, or sharing personal data, you will have to face and comprehend the complex and progressing privacy environment that determines what information you will collect, how you can leverage that data, while also ensuring regulatory compliance depending on the niche of your business.
Looking at this privacy policy from the user side, it is essential to clearly familiarize customers with the transparent terms and conditions and find out what data they will have to ensure and for what purpose, as well as what data the software application will have access to. According to Statista, the trend of conscious consumers who are aware that companies have access to and sell their personal data to third parties has grown in recent years. In July 2022, 75% of consumers claimed they knew that businesses sell personal data. In contrast, in 2020, this share was slightly surpassing 60%.
VPN as a Solution
A VPN, short for Virtual Private Network, can serve as a solution to enhance user privacy and deliver solid security in parallel. User activities and data are under robust protection, as VPN encrypts the connection between the device and the internet. This way, you are guaranteed that no external parties, hackers, or internet service providers (ISPs) can intercept and decrypt your private information.
Besides, many websites and advertisers strive to track your actions done online according to your IP address, which can be prevented by introducing a solid anonymity. In these terms, a VPN hides your IP address by routing your internet traffic via the VPN server.
VPN should also come in handy for those individuals who widely use public Wi-Fi. Networks from cafes or airports are at high risk, making your data vulnerable to being extracted by malicious software or individuals. Adopting a VPN, you can securely connect to insufficiently protected Wi-Fi, with your internet traffic staying encrypted and saved from potential leaks. In practice, according to Forbes, 77% of individuals have adopted VPNs for personal use. Their core aim is to save personal data and activity online.
With VPN, you are borderless in your web surfing, as with some vendors, you can pass geo-restrictions. Websites that are blocked or restricted in your regions can be accessed through a VPN with ease. This is possible by connecting to a VPN server placed in another country so you can seamlessly enjoy the content you want while maintaining your privacy.
Today, you have a rich choice among VPN providers. Each offers different terms and conditions of use, which you should consider in your decision-making. For instance, some VPN services collect user data, such as connection logs, usage session and traffic information, and metadata. In contrast, we at ZoogVPN adhere to a strict no-log policy and do not store any user details, taking care of the privacy and confidentiality of our customers.
Conclusion
Considering everything, adequate and quality development of privacy and confidentiality policies requires a multidisciplinary and in-depth approach, engaging technical, legal, ethical, and social aspects.
Businesses will have to compromise not only with customers and their privacy requirements but also with the compliance standards inherent in their industries.
In case you would like to protect your privacy, it’s integral for you to adopt a VPN that will ensure solid security to your user data while staying anonymous within internet activities. A qualitative VPN service can kill two birds with one stone, equipping users with data protection from third-party intrusion and ensuring a seamless experience for their internet surfing.
Choose the ZoogVPN service that truly respects your private life, efficiently securing your online journeys. Enjoy a free trial and adopt a reliable VPN today.
- Diana BestaievaContent Writer at ZoogVPN. Diana deeply explores the newest technologies and shares valuable insights engagingly and comprehensively. Keeping up with the tech news, she makes in-depth content, explaining complex concepts with ease.
