<![CDATA[Objective – In the digital transformation era, the integrity of personal data has become essential for maintaining trust and ensuring the sustainability of digital services. This paper aims to systematically review how data privacy violations affect public trust and progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 9 (infrastructure and innovation) and SDG 16 (strong institutions and justice). Methodology—This study adopts the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach based on Kitchenham’s framework. Relevant articles from 2021–2025 were retrieved from Scopus, IEEE, Springer, and ScienceDirect using a predefined search string aligned with PICOC. A total of 19,504 records were screened, and 36 high-quality studies were selected after applying inclusion/exclusion criteria and quality assessment tools (e.g., CASP, AMSTAR). Findings—The review reveals that sectors such as education, healthcare, and smart cities are increasingly adopting data protection technologies, including encryption, federated learning, differential privacy, and blockchain. However, many still face regulatory, infrastructural, and human literacy gaps. Breaches in personal data significantly reduce public trust, impair the exercise of digital rights, and pose ethical and operational risks for achieving SDGs. Limitations – The study is limited by the timeframe (2021–2025) and focuses primarily on peer-reviewed literature. Practical insights from developing countries may be underrepresented due to database indexing limitations. Contribution – This review contributes a cross-sectoral synthesis of technological and regulatory practices for data protection, identifies key challenges, and outlines a strategic roadmap for policymakers and technologists to integrate ethical data governance for sustainable digital futures.]]>
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