The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a data protection and privacy regulation in European law affecting Europe and the European Economic Area. The Data Protection Act 2018 brought GDPR into UK law.
GDPR has been developed to protect any individual physically located in the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA), regardless of nationality, citizenship status, or whether their information is processed online or offline. It highlights transparency, accountability, and the need for consent when processing personal information. Since its enforcement, GDPR has forced organizations to adopt a more stringent approach to data handling.
Best Practices for GDPR Compliance
Implementing GDPR best practices is essential to staying compliant. If you don’t take the time to understand and adhere to these regulations, your business could incur large fines. Not only this, but it may also damage customer trust and loyalty. So, understanding and adopting GDPR best practices needs to be a top priority.
Meeting the requirements for GDPR can be a challenge. For most companies, the new regulation means increasing current privacy practices and implementing appropriate policies and security protocols.
However, despite the complexity of these laws, following the best practices outlined below can help you to remain GDPR compliant:
- Understand GDPR requirements
- Document all your data processing activities
- Assess areas of non-compliance
- Consent from data subjects
- Document your processes
- Monitor compliance
- Educate employees about GDPR
- Respond quickly to any data breaches
1. Understand GDPR requirements
Before taking any action, it’s important to understand what is required for GDPR compliance and specifically how it applies to your business. This fundamental information forms the foundation of your GDPR implementation and enables you to effectively incorporate best practices into your business strategy.
2. Document all your data processing activities
Record all Personally Identifiable Information (PII) processing activities within your organization. It is very important to identify all personal data that you currently have and where it is stored. Create an inventory of all the personal data your organization holds, where it came from, who has access to it and what you do with it, as those are the processes that will be assessed as part of your GDPR compliance. The data inventory can show you:
- What information is collected?
- Where is it stored?
- Where did it come from?
- What is it used for?
- Who has access to it?
- How is it protected?
- Do you ever share it with third parties? On what basis might you do so?
- How long is it kept for?
This inventory should be regularly updated to reflect any changes in your data processing activities or any modifications to the types of personal data collected.
3. Assess areas of non-compliance
Once all relevant data processing activities have been documented, assess each one against the rules of GDPR to highlight where your processes might have gaps. You will then need to develop a plan for how you will address these issues to become compliant with the regulations.
4. Consent from data subjects
If your legal basis for retaining data is consent, then you must ensure that you get this consent as under GDPR, you will need to prove that you have clear consent to process any personal data. Privacy notices are known for being dense and hard to read. However, GDPR privacy information needs to be transparent and easy to understand. You can use a pop up or an on-page notice, but your notice document should explain very clearly to data subjects why you will retain their data and how you will use it so that they know exactly what they’re agreeing to when they click Yes to comply.
It is helpful to always think from the data subjects’ perspectives. That way it should be easier to understand how you need to write the text and design the notices for clarity.
5. Document your processes
It is important to maintain a record of all your processing activities, covering areas such as processing purposes, data sharing and retention. When documenting your findings, the records you keep must be in writing. The information must be documented in a thorough and meaningful way.
Documenting your processing activities is important, not only because it is itself a legal requirement, but also because it can support good data governance and help you demonstrate your compliance with other aspects of GDPR.
6. Monitor compliance
Ensure that you continuously review your organization’s processes, procedures, and systems for GDPR compliance. This is critical to maintain compliance and prevent any data privacy issues from occurring. Using a solution like the Lepide Data Security Platform will help to ensure that your GDPR compliance requirements are met, and any non-compliance fines are avoided.
7. Educate employees about GDPR
It is essential to teach employees the importance of protecting personal data in accordance with GDPR requirements. This includes how to handle requests from individuals who wish to exercise their rights under the regulation, such as access, amendment, or removal of their data.
Ensure that there are open communication channels for reporting and addressing potential data protection concerns, therefore empowering employees to actively contribute to the organization’s commitment to privacy and compliance.
8. Respond quickly to any data breaches
It is essential to have a process in place on how to handle a situation where a data breach or incident occurs. Part of this process should be to consider how you’ll notify individuals and authorities according to the law. Be prepared to respond quickly to any incidents, according to GDPR principles. Establish a clear and efficient communication protocol, outlining the steps that will be taken to mitigate the impact and prevent future breaches.
How Lepide can Help Meet GDPR Compliance
The Lepide Data Security Platform is an advanced auditing solution that continuously monitors and reports on all activities in your network infrastructure to help you meet the requirements of GDPR. With numerous pre-defined reports tailored to meet some of the more stringent auditing aspects of GDPR compliance, you’ll be able to meet GDPR audits quickly and easily and avoid potentially crippling fines.
If you’d like to see how the Lepide Data Security Platform can help you be GDPR compliant,.