Kaspersky teamed up with contemporary artist Felipe Pantone to raise awareness on Data Privacy Day

To commemorate international Data Privacy Day, which fell on 28 January 2021, Kaspersky has revealed an art collaboration with contemporary artist Felipe Pantone. Famous for his work with pixels and gradients, Felipe is renowned for keeping his identity private and expressing his work with subtlety. For this partnership, the artist has created a unique piece, representing a futuristic shield aimed at visualising digital protection.

Personal and sensitive data such as credit card details, text messages and photos now clutter our digital world. As a result, it has become more difficult to effectively take care of such vast amounts of information - making its protection a skillful art. Online privacy, and the impact that data breaches can have on a person or an organisation, are critical risks to everyone in this connected age. Therefore, keeping our personal data and online interactions secure is fundamental to ensuring technology continues to play a positive and essential role in our lives.

By jointly presenting the art piece - a futuristic hexagon made of aluminum and PMMA - the global cybersecurity company and the renowned artist aim to raise awareness about online privacy, which goes far beyond safeguarding data, to protecting people’s digital identities just as they would their physical ones.

“W3-Structural K, the work I created for Kaspersky, is inspired by hi-tech architecture that emphasises the structure and technology within buildings. The shape of the work evokes a protection shield to reference the work of Kaspersky in high-tech cybersecurity,” says Felipe.

The collaboration between Kaspersky and Pantone stands on a solid basis of shared values, such as the passion for innovation and constant improvement. The artist makes use of the latest available technologies and materials to express his inner self in the best way possible. Kaspersky develops state-of-the-art solutions to make sure that people can use the full potential of today’s interconnected digital world, and to securely bring on the future.

“Data is all around us – from mobile phones to laptops, smart watches and smart homes. At the same time, data is also one click away from falling into the wrong hands,” says Marco Preuss, director of the global research and analysis team in Europe at Kaspersky. “With digitalisation continuing to grow around the world, many services are becoming more and more data-driven. Whilst the collection of users’ personal information can help to enrich consumer experiences and opportunities, it’s important that we, as a society, are aware of the potential risks and threats when sharing personal data online. This sharing is not only a risk, but sometimes a certain danger, thus it’s important that we reflect on what could happen to digital privacy and data protection so that we can continue to help keep everyone’s sensitive information safe.”

Kaspersky recommends adhering to the following practices to safeguard personal data:

• Be conscious of what personal information you share online, especially when it comes to posting photos online with IDs, tickets and billing documents. Any information you post is at risk of falling into the wrong hands.
• Ensure you always check permission settings of all social media accounts and apps you use, to minimise the likelihood of your data being shared or stored by third parties – and beyond – without your knowledge.
• Use two-factor authentication to secure your primary email, which is connected to banking services and other important sites. If you want to login to ambiguous services, it is best to create a secondary email address.
• Use a VPN when connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks.
• Avoid using weak or repeated passwords. 
• Stop sharing personal data with online merchants (which is used for ad targeting) by accessing key features in cybersecurity solutions.

Learn more about how to protect your online data here. You can also read about privacy predictions for 2021 from Kaspersky’s leading cybersecurity experts here.