Our lips are sealed: industry shares tips and best practices for Data Privacy Day

YARMOUTH, Maine – January 28, 2024, marks the 17th annual Data Privacy Day, an international event designed to raise awareness and promote privacy. 

Ahead of the event, members of the security industry have come together to offer some advice on how best to ensure your organization’s data privacy without compromising its security. Genetec, a technology provider of unified security, public safety, operations, and business intelligence solutions offered the following as part of its data privacy best practices:

Collecting and storing only what you need

A fundamental rule of data security is to collect and store only essential information. The potential impact of a security breach can be reduced by minimizing stored data. It’s important to regularly review and audit data and dispose of unnecessary information responsibly.

Limiting access to sensitive data

Enhancing data security involves restricting access to sensitive information. Genetec recommends implementing data-sharing best practices, such as removing personally identifiable information to safeguard individual privacy. Techniques for anonymizing personal information while retaining its utility include randomization, pseudonymization, tokenization, generalization, and data masking.

"Organizations should never have to choose between data privacy and security,” said Christian Morin, chief security officer at Genetec Inc. “That’s why Genetec solutions are built on privacy by design principles so that our customers can ensure the highest levels of security while respecting personal privacy and complying with privacy laws."

Professional surveillance and public safety solutions provider i-PRO also participated in offering a number of helpful tips to users:

Educate stakeholders on the differences between AI, analytics, and facial recognition

People often confuse AI with analytics, but they're distinct. AI is used in the video industry to enhance analytics and analysis capabilities, such as detecting humans and vehicles. Analytics, on the other hand, typically refers to the process of analyzing what a detected object is doing. For video security systems, it’s essential to understand that the descriptive metadata an AI-based camera captures is composed of anonymous data about the humans they detect.

Most importantly, AI does not equal facial recognition. Facial recognition is a specific, focused function which has distinct privacy implications, while most AI implementations do not. And while facial recognition might be improved with some AI-based techniques, facial recognition has had its own separate evolution distinct from AI.

Encrypt data in transit and at rest

Encrypting video data, both in transit and at rest, is crucial for maintaining data confidentiality and integrity. For data in transit, common methods include TLS/SSL encryption. Used by HTTPS, this encrypts the data between the client and the server to ensure video data cannot be easily intercepted by unauthorized parties. Secure real-time transport protocol (SRTP) is another widely supported method to encrypt video and audio streams. For data at rest (storage), methods include the advanced encryption standard (AES) or similar algorithms.

Many cloud storage providers offer built-in encryption for data at rest which includes both server-side and client-side encryption. Proper key management is crucial for both types of encryption. Keep security systems, including software and hardware, up to date. Regular updates and patches protect against vulnerabilities that could be exploited to access data.

“Privacy by design is a core tenet of i-PRO’s business philosophy. Recognizing Data Privacy Day on January 28th is a great reminder that data privacy needs to be top of mind whether you are an end-user, integrator, or manufacturer of physical security systems,” said Hiroshi (Huey) Sekiguchi, CMO, i-PRO Co.

You can find the full list of Genetec’s tips online here, or visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G21d59Ee41Q to learn more about i-PRO’s AI Privacy Guard.