Privacy risks to individuals tend to be neglected due to the emphasis placed on privacy risks to organizations. Considering privacy risks to individuals, however, is critical to effective privacy risk management.

More specifically, privacy risks that threaten individuals — and, in turn, society — ultimately also present risks to businesses. An individual in this context means an employee, customer, client, board member, donor or any other person with whom an organization has a relationship.

Given the urgency of the public health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is worth analyzing the unique privacy risks that have emerged. Organizations that take these privacy risks to the individual and society into account in their risk management programs will be better equipped to manage the overall risks to privacy brought about by the pandemic.