What Is Data Misuse?

Data misuse is the use of information in ways it wasn’t intended for. User agreements, corporate policies, data privacy laws, and industry regulations all set conditions for how data can be collected and used. Data misuse violates these requirements.

Unlike data theft, data misuse doesn’t necessarily happen as a result of a cyberattack or when data is collected without the owner’s consent. Although preventing data theft by employees—as covered in the Computer Misuses Act—is important to consider, misusing data often means that permissions are being ignored: a user might willingly pro