Build a New Playbook Using Security by Design
Does Your Privacy Management Need a New Playbook?
Is your organization constantly reacting to privacy risks? Do they act only when a new risk has been identified? How about when a new regulation must be implemented? Did you think to act when you heard murmurs or just wait? What’s your take on employees absconding with office equipment (easy to do in a hybrid environment)?
If so, you run the risk of data leakages, unauthorized server access, and a host of other problems when you don’t proactively establish:
- A common taxonomy
- Standard processes
- Frameworks to create redundant controls and manage data
Unfortunately, the growing number and complexity of privacy regulations will continue to stretch privacy and compliance teams, and there’s simply very little time to put anything in place.
A Privacy Regulation Explosion
To put the explosion of privacy regulations into perspective, in the last 3 years, 128 out of 194 countries have put in place legislation to secure the protection of data and privacy, while 19 other countries have draft legislation in place. Seventy-six percent of all countries!
In addition to the expanding number of data privacy regulations, organizations are dealing with the growing volume of data siloed across a patchwork of databases and endpoints. Unfortunately, by siloing data these endpoints are becoming increasingly dispersed—and more challenging to access—as remote work continues to be the norm.
With every department or functional group managing data privacy with their own processes and tools, there is lack of:
- Visibility
- Integrated reporting
- Accountability at the enterprise level
For an enterprise view of privacy risk, compliance and audit teams must undergo the monumental task of piecing together information across multiple departments when it determines what data is affected, where it is stored, and how it is used. It could take weeks, and by the time the report is completed the data is already stale.
And the amount of data continues to grow
Exponential data growth makes it more and more difficult to not only report on compliance but also to limit the risk. Unfortunately, the tools, processes, and the very means of measurement often stay the same.
It’s Time to Change the Privacy Playbook to Security by Design
Security by Design is an approach to software and hardware development that seeks to make systems as free as possible from vulnerabilities and attacks through measures such as as:
- Continuous testing
- Authentication safeguards
- Adherence to best programming practices
Changing your security stance from reactive to proactive
Common sense would say that your Privacy Management solution should be proactive not reactive. Unexpected data breaches are inevitable but they should be the exception. So how do you implement a proactive security posture?
- Continuously analyze data
You can spot hard-to-find data breaches more easily when you continuously collect information that identifies emerging risks or detects when there is a compliance failure (before it becomes an audit finding). - Implement a single taxonomy
A single taxonomy should be put in place, so everyone uses the same terminology, “speaks the same language”. Doing so allows new regulations to be easily established. - Establish a governance framework
The existence of a governance framework put in place for new regulations would allow you to reduce time-to-compliance and add redundancies.
Go From Separate Data Silos to Integrating Privacy in Your Daily Work
Instead of everyone working in silos, privacy management programs should provide a central data repository that supports cross-functional workflows embedded in everyday activities. In this way, privacy management can support the concept of Privacy by Design.
The ability to request a privacy screening assessment must be easily accessible for all applications or process owners on mobile devices, chatbots, and employee portals. Only when processes that support Privacy by Design are embedded (invisibly) in daily workflows for all employees will privacy management become a natural part in the fabric of your organization.
Connect with the Milestone team to learn more.
