Consumer Data Protection & Cybersecurity

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As community-based organizations fight to improve the lives of some of our nation’s most vulnerable populations, an unfortunate data breach may undermine the financial stability of the very people they have committed to serve, while exposing the organization to reputational harm and potential lawsuits. Over the past year, the importance of data protection and cybersecurity could not be understated as organizations across the country moved most of their operations and consumer services online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Housing agencies of all sizes are repositories of sensitive personally identifiable information (or “PII”). Inadequate data protection practices and poor cyber hygiene increases the risk of a data breach that exposes this sensitive data to risk of theft by cybercriminals. Whether the data is on paper or on a laptop, protection of this data is not only good practice, in some states it’s also the law. And if an organization suffers a data breach, all 50 states require affected individuals be notified, and in some cases the State Attorney General. Furthermore, a data breach may expose an organization to lawsuits and regulatory fines.

In a day when online data breaches and cyber-crime are rising, solid data protection practices are an operational necessity. Data protection involves protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the PII under your organization’s control and respecting the privacy of the individuals to whom that PII belongs. This aim is achieved by applying administrative, technical and physical safeguards to address the risks to the privacy and security of the PII under your organization’s control.

This two-day training will cover the legal and operational risks community-based organizations face in handling consumer data and provide insights on how to mitigate those risks and protect consumer data.

If you have any questions, contact: training@ncrc.org.