Data Privacy Day is January 28, and kicks off Data Privacy Month—February. 

Now is an excellent time to recognize Data Privacy Month in ways that are both practical and impactful.  Some ways you can do this are:

• Take steps to protect yourself from Identity Theft: The Privacy Office offers tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft.  Visit the Privacy website for more details at http://www.upenn.edu/oacp/privacy/yourdata/identity-theft.html

• Practice safe computing: Computers at Penn come in all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re running a “classic” desktop tower, a laptop, Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux, there are a number of basic security concepts that you should adopt to protect your data, along with every other computing asset on Penn’s network. Check out these Desktop Security 101 tips and share as appropriate: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/security/aware/desktop

• Don’t keep unnecessary data: Too often we read about data breaches that were avoidable because the data stolen was being kept by an institution unnecessarily. So, securely delete confidential information that is no longer needed for teaching, research, service, operations or any other Penn-related function.  To destroy sensitive physical files, use a shredder to ensure the information cannot be accessed by others.  Use software such as Identity Finder to detect and properly dispose of electronic files containing sensitive information. Before securely deleting information, make sure that this is permissible according to Penn Guidance.  For more information about eliminating unnecessary data, see: http://www.upenn.edu/oacp/privacy/penndata/ 

• Host a Records Clean Up Day:  Data Privacy Month is a great time of year to think about planning a Records Clean Up Day.  Ask your Department, School, or Center leadership to designate one day out of the year to cleaning and organizing your offices and work areas.  Here are some tools to help you plan: http://www.upenn.edu/oacp/privacy/penndata/host-a-records-cleanup-day.html