When it comes to the types of things that catch our attention, there’s the trends we see, especially when it comes to fashion (think sequins…) and food (alternatives to chocolate, yes, you read that correctly).

Yet, when we’re our phone, iPad, or laptop and we’re on social media, it’s all about what’s trending; for everything from Taylor Swift’s travel schedule to make it in time to be at the Super Bowl and how she might go about it to data privacy (after all, it’s Data Privacy Week and Sunday, January 28^th is Data Privacy Day).

The fact is data privacy is something that should be trending for all of us. The challenge is two-fold. It’s a balance we deal with, in terms of who has access to our personal data and financial information while, at the same time, understanding how do we protect our data in a way that we avoid becoming a victim of a phishing, vishing or smishing attack.

Fortunately, there’s a lot of trusted resources, who share a lot of great information about the steps you can take proactively for keeping secure your personal information. Here’s a few of the 10 must-know tips from the National Cybersecurity Alliance, including:

• Encrypt your data with a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service.
• Don’t save your passwords on your browser.
• Avoid using public Wi-Fi.
• Update all your tools, devices, apps and operating systems.
• Don’t click on unfamiliar attachments and files.

If you’re a small business owner, or you work in local government, at a school, or as part of a non-profit organization, data privacy is an important priority. Some days, it can seem as though that there aren’t enough people or programs to deal with the more sophisticated types of cyber incidents or cyberattacks that are occurring these days.

Yet, just as there’s lots of help available for when we’re out on our own, there is a great deal of free-to-download information related to data privacy to help make sense of it all, including right here in Indiana with the PII Guidebook from the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity, as well as from CISA and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

Of course, because all of this is trending, you’ll want to bookmark our Indiana Cybersecurity Hub website as a FREE resource, not only for all things cyber, but to check back soon for an (even more) updated PII Guidebook and an all-new Indiana Privacy Toolkit that we think you’ll find useful to gain a better understanding of the latest trends in data privacy. And, you guessed it, it is what’s trending (right there with Taylor)!