A strong data protection program combines both technical and organizational measures to protect your customers’ personal information. Two-factor authentication, encryption, and data privacy policies are examples of technical measures. Organizational measures include policies that govern access to sensitive personal information. If you’re not sure how to protect your customers’ data, contact Optiv’s experts to find out more about how we can help. We also have expert advice on how to comply with the GDPR.
Optiv’s experts
Optiv’s data protection solutions are built around end-to-end security and privacy. Its experts combine high-level advisory with technical skills to create comprehensive data inventories and flow maps, as well as fit-for-purpose privacy programs. The end-to-end approach allows clients to take advantage of the power of data while minimizing risk. Optiv experts are the ideal partner for organizations seeking to protect data and grow their business.
Optiv has upgraded its data protection services through acquisitions that provide security solutions for a range of industries. Optiv’s Cyber-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform personalizes security solutions based on business requirements, lowering operational costs. And with its GSD organization, Optiv brings together seasoned cybersecurity experts and experienced technical practitioners to execute end-to-end security solutions.
GDPR compliance
Among the requirements of GDPR compliance with data protection law is a written contract with all processors that processes personal data. Such contracts must contain specific terms that comply with the GDPR requirements. Furthermore, companies must add all data processing agreements to a special register to ensure adequate protection of personal data, even if they are processed outside the European Economic Area. In addition, they should audit their documented security arrangements periodically to ensure that they are compliant with GDPR.
As an example, a GDPR violation is a data breach, a security breach in which personal data is accidentally or unlawfully disclosed. Businesses must notify data breaches to the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of discovery. They also must determine which personal data they collect, store and use. If they answer “yes” to all three questions, they are considered controllers. However, if they only answer “yes” to Question 1, then they are considered processors.
Cloud data protection
To increase the overall security of your cloud-based data, you should consider implementing strict access permissions and a strong credential policy. Strict access permissions will prevent unauthorized access and limit the number of possible points of access. Similarly, you should consider setting strong passwords to protect data. Currently, ninety percent of all passwords can be cracked within seconds, so make sure that you never reuse your passwords.
Identifying sensitive data and implementing automated, consistent, and seamless data protection policies is crucial. The policies should be able to distinguish between routine activities and unauthorized access, as well as minimize the attack surface. As part of the data protection process, you should also determine which applications are used by privileged users, such as those that access sensitive information. If you want to be sure that your data is secure, it is vital to establish edge cases with your cloud vendor and create documentation detailing each security feature.
Permission roles
Creating permission roles to protect your data is critical to protecting sensitive information. Permission roles define the scope of a user’s access to data. There are two basic kinds of permission roles: built-in roles and user-defined. Built-in roles define the default permissions for users and groups, while user-defined roles allow you to set permissions for specific users. Once you’ve created a permission role for your data, you can apply it to other users and groups.
Users can also have permissions for specific applications. An admin user can grant permissions for specific applications, custom analytics events, and Synthetic events. Users without the Owner role have no access to these types of data. You can assign permissions to specific groups or individual users based on the role that the person has. This gives them the most control over the data, but doesn’t grant them access to the entire data. Therefore, when granting permissions, it is important to use these roles carefully and make sure that you assign the correct permissions for specific applications.
Monitoring functions
While monitoring and response activities are essential for data protection, organizations may also want to perform them for other business or compliance reasons. Establishing a monitoring and response scheme should be part of a wider monitoring and response management strategy. In addition to deciding what type of monitoring is necessary, organizations should also determine whether they need to handle requests from data subjects, such as privacy complaints, and determine how to handle remediation actions. Here are some general guidelines for implementing monitoring and response activities:
Organizations must consider all aspects of data protection, from the data itself to the security processes and technical infrastructure. This means hiring a DPO with extensive expertise in privacy law and a complete understanding of the technology and infrastructure used to process data. Data protection monitors generate risk incidents based on the organization’s data privacy policies. Each risk incident is automatically assigned to the data protection owner and investigated in a closed loop incident response workflow, ensuring sustained compliance.