Complete Overview Flashcards
Data Protection Officer (DPO)
ROLE:
The DPO is a key figure responsible for overseeing an organization’s data protection strategy and ensuring compliance with relevant data protection laws (like GDPR). Their duties include conducting privacy impact assessments, monitoring data processing activities, and acting as the main contact for data subjects and supervisory authorities.
EXAMPLE:
A company that processes large amounts of sensitive personal data may have a DPO who ensures that data processing adheres to the GDPR. The DPO would regularly assess how customer data is being handled and provide recommendations on improving security or minimizing risks.
Data Owner
ROLE:
The data steward is tasked with ensuring the quality, integrity, and proper management of data. They maintain data consistency across systems and ensure that data is used correctly by various stakeholders. A data steward ensures that data governance policies are implemented and adhered to by users across the organization.
EXAMPLE:
In a healthcare organization, a data steward might manage patient records to ensure they are accurate, up to date, and compliant with regulatory requirements. They would ensure that health information is properly categorized, protected, and accessible only to authorized personnel.
Data Custodian
ROLE:
The data custodian is responsible for the technical management of data. This includes storing, protecting, and ensuring the availability of data according to the data owner’s specifications. Custodians manage the day-to-day operation of the data storage systems and infrastructure.
EXAMPLE:
An IT department that manages a cloud storage system might act as the data custodian. Their role would be to ensure that the data is securely stored, backed up, and accessible according to the permissions set by the data owner.
Legal Compliance
ROLE:
Legal compliance roles are responsible for ensuring that an organization adheres to relevant data protection and privacy laws, regulations, and industry standards. This team works closely with privacy professionals to interpret legal requirements and ensure that policies and processes align with legal obligations.
EXAMPLE:
A legal compliance officer might work with the DPO to ensure that contracts with third-party vendors include necessary clauses for data protection, such as data processing agreements, to meet legal requirements under GDPR or other privacy laws.
Cybersecurity
ROLE:
The cybersecurity team focuses on protecting data from unauthorized access, breaches, and other security threats. Their role is closely linked to privacy, as they implement technical measures (like encryption, firewalls, and access controls) to ensure the security of personal data.
EXAMPLE:
The cybersecurity team in an e-commerce company would implement firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and encryption to protect customer data, ensuring that sensitive information like credit card details are secure against hacking attempts.
Privacy Standards and Frameworks
Cdomprehensive guides that define policies, processes, and technical controls necessary for protecting personal data. They are developed by international organizations, industry groups, and regulatory bodies to help organizations create a robust data protection environment. Examples of such standards and frameworks are GDPR, CCPA, ISO/IEC 27701.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
This European Union regulation sets the standard for data privacy across Europe. It requires organizations to protect personal data and provide transparency about how data is collected, used, and shared.
The GDPR stresses several provisions to PROTECT THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF THE DATA SUBJECTS.
Here are some important principles to remember:
1) Data must be processed lawfully and transparently
2) Purpose Limitation (Collected for specific and legitimate purposes)
3) Data Minimization (Collect only what is needed for purpose)
4) Accuracy (accurate and up to date data)
5) Storage limitation (Retain data only for as long as needed)
6) Integrity and Confidentiality (Data is handled to ensure security)
7) A DPO must be appointed
8) Consent must be explicit and unambiguous.
9) Data transferred outside the EU must have adequate protection guaranteed.
10) Privacy by default is required.
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
A U.S. law that focuses on giving consumers more control over their personal information. It mandates organizations to disclose data collection practices and give consumers the right to opt-out of data selling.
ISO/IEC 27701
A privacy extension to the ISO 27001 Information Security Management System. It specifies requirements and provides guidance for establishing, maintaining, and continuously improving a Privacy Information Management System (PIMS).
NIST Privacy Framework
A voluntary framework from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology that helps organizations manage privacy risks and build privacy into their operations.
Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs)
A set of principles that guide privacy policies and regulations, focusing on transparency, data minimization, and individual participation in how personal data is handled.
Privacy Gap Analysis
WHAT IT IS?
A gap analysis assesses an organization’s current privacy practices against the requirements of a chosen framework (like GDPR or ISO/IEC 27701). This helps identify areas that need improvement.
EXAMPLE:
An organization might assess its current data handling practices against GDPR requirements. If the gap analysis reveals that the company isn’t providing data subjects with adequate rights to access their data, this becomes a focus area for improvement.
Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)
WHAT IT IS?
Help identify potential privacy risks in projects, processes, or systems and determine how those risks can be mitigated.
WHEN WOULD I USE IT?
Whenever a new technology or system is being implemented, launching a new project involving personal data, making significant changes to an existing system, company merger, sharing personal data with a third party or engaging is high-risk data processing activities.
EXAMPLE:
When implementing a new customer data management system, an organization might carry out a PIA to assess how the system collects, processes, and stores personal data, ensuring it adheres to privacy standards like GDPR or CCPA.
Technical Controls
WHAT IS IT?
security measures implemented through hardware or software to protect data and ensure privacy. These controls help safeguard personal data from unauthorized access, data breaches, or misuse. They work alongside administrative and physical controls to form a comprehensive security approach.
EXAMPLE:
Encryption is a common technical control. It converts data into a code to prevent unauthorized access. For instance, when you send sensitive information like your credit card number over the internet, encryption ensures that even if someone intercepts the data, they won’t be able to read it without the proper decryption key.
Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
WHAT IS IT?
Legally binding contract between two parties: a data controller (the organization that owns or determines how personal data is processed) and a data processor (a third party that processes data on behalf of the controller). The DPA outlines the responsibilities, obligations, and terms under which the processor handles the controller’s personal data, ensuring that the data is protected and handled in compliance with privacy laws, like the GDPR.
EXAMPLE:
Imagine an online store (the data controller) that collects personal data from customers when they place an order, such as their name, shipping address, and credit card information. The online store uses a payment processing company (the data processor) to handle and process the payments.
In this case, the online store (controller) and the payment company (processor) need to sign a Data Processing Agreement (DPA). The DPA will specify: 1) How the payment company can use customer data (only to process payments), 2) How the payment company will protect the data (using encryption, secure storage, etc.), 3) What the payment company should do if there’s a data breach, and 4) The store’s right to audit the payment company’s data security practices.
This agreement ensures that both parties handle customer data responsibly and in line with data protection laws.
Access Control
WHAT IS IT?
Security measures used to regulate who can view, use, or modify certain resources, such as data, files, or systems. They help ensure that only authorized people can access sensitive information, while unauthorized individuals are kept out. This is a key part of maintaining data privacy and security.
EXAMPLE:
In a hospital, a doctor might have access to a patient’s medical history, while a receptionist can only see the patient’s contact details. The system determines access based on the employee’s role.
Data Masking
WHAT IS IT?
Technique used to hide or “mask” sensitive information so that it remains confidential, even when it needs to be shared or used by others. The idea is to replace real data with fake or scrambled data to protect privacy while still allowing the data to be used for things like testing, analytics, or development.
EXAMPLES:
1) Removing parts of a social security number (xxx-xx-4321)
2) Replacing a person’s name like John Smith with Person156
Audit Logs
WHAT IS IT?
Detailed records that track what actions are performed on a system or database, specifically related to personal or sensitive data. These logs help monitor and review who accessed the data, what changes were made, and when those actions occurred.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
It helps with detection of breaches, monitoring who is accessing the system, ensure compliance, and provide internal accountability (employee misuse, for example).
Encryption
WHAT IS IT?
Converting information into a code to prevent unauthorized access. It scrambles the original data (called plaintext) into an unreadable format (called ciphertext) so that only someone with the correct key (a special code) can decrypt and read the data.
EXAMPLE
Taking a plaintext such as 1234 5678 9012 3456 and converting it to ciphertext 8f2dF9a1$%7a
Blockchain Technology
WHAT IS IT?
System for recording information in a way that makes it very difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. It works like a digital ledger (a record book) that is shared across a network of computers. Every time a transaction (like buying something or sending money) happens, it gets recorded in a block. These blocks are connected together, forming a chain of blocks, which is why it’s called blockchain.
WHAT ARE KEY FEATURES?
1) It is decentralized (shared across many computers or nodes across the world.
2) Immutable (once information is added, it cannot be changed)
3) Transparent (Every in the network can see the data on the blockchain, ensuring transparency).
EXAMPLE
A popular example of blockchain is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, and it uses blockchain technology to keep a secure record of transactions
Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)
WHAT IS IT?
A process used to evaluate the privacy risks related to the processing of personal data, particularly when new technologies, systems, or processes are introduced. It is specifically required under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy regulations when data processing is likely to result in high risks to the rights and freedoms of individuals.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM A PIA?
A DPIA is more specific, required under GDPR, and focuses on high-risk processing activities to ensure legal compliance.
EXAMPLE:
A company implementing facial recognition technology in their stores must conduct a DPIA to assess the high privacy risks associated with biometric data processing.
Nissenbaum’s Contextual Integrity
WHAT IS IT?
A framework for understanding privacy in a way that focuses on context rather than just general rules about personal information. It suggests that whether something is a violation of privacy depends on the social norms and expectations in a specific context. People expect different levels of privacy depending on where they are, what they’re doing, and who they are interacting with.
WHAT ARE THE KEY PRINCIPLES?
1) Context - The environment (workplace, hospital, school, etc.)
2) Actors - Who is involved (who’s giving, receiving, and using the information)
3) Information Type - Different types of information (health, financial, etc.)
4) Transmission - How the information is shared.
EXAMPLE:
Let’s take the example of posting a photo on social media. You post a picture of a family event on your private Facebook page, expecting only your friends to see it. In this context:
- Context: The photo is being shared in a social media platform with your chosen friends.
- Information Type: It’s a personal family photo.
- Actors: You (the person sharing), your friends (who are allowed to see it), and Facebook (the platform facilitating the sharing).
- Transmission Principles: Your expectation is that only your friends can view the photo, and it won’t be shared publicly or with advertisers.
Data Quality Principle
WHAT IS IT?
Personal data should be accurate, complete, and kept up to date as needed for the purpose it was collected.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Inaccurate or outdated information can lead to harmful consequences, such as incorrect decisions or services being delivered based on faulty data.
EXAMPLE:
A bank ensures that customer contact details are up-to-date so that important financial notices are sent to the correct address.
Collection Limitation Principle
WHAT IS IT?
There should be limits to the collection of personal data and any such data should be obtained by lawful and fair means and where appropriate, with the knowledge or consent of the data subject.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Limiting the amount of data collected reduces the risk of misuse or unauthorized access. It also respects individuals’ privacy by not gathering more information than needed.
EXAMPLE:
A mobile app that tracks fitness only asks for relevant data like steps taken and workout duration. It does not ask for unrelated personal information, like your home address or financial data.
Purpose Specification Principle
WHAT IS IT?
The purpose for which personal data is collected should be specified at the time of collection, and the data should only be used for that purpose.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
This principle ensures transparency, letting individuals know how their data will be used and preventing organizations from repurposing the data without consent.
EXAMPLE:
Use Limitation Principle
WHAT IS IT?
Personal data should only be used or shared for the purposes specified, unless the individual has given consent for other uses, or it is required by law.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
It prevents data from being used in ways that could harm the individual or go beyond their expectations.
EXAMPLE:
A healthcare provider only uses patient data for medical treatment and does not share it with advertisers without the patient’s explicit consent.
Security Safeguards Principle
WHAT IS IT?
Personal data should be protected with reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, or alteration.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
This principle helps protect sensitive information from data breaches or unauthorized use, which can lead to identity theft or financial loss.
EXAMPLE:
An online bank uses encryption and two-factor authentication to ensure that customer account details are kept secure.
Openness Principle
WHAT IS IT?
Organizations should be transparent about their data practices, including what personal data they collect, how it’s used, and how individuals can access or correct their data.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Openness builds trust between organizations and individuals, ensuring that data practices are clear and understandable.
EXAMPLE:
A company’s privacy policy clearly outlines what types of data they collect from customers, how it is used, and how long it is retained.
Individual Participation Principle
WHAT IS IT?
Individuals should have the right to access their personal data, correct any inaccuracies, and, where appropriate, request deletion or object to its use.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
This principle empowers individuals to take control of their personal information, ensuring that they can maintain accuracy and limit its use if needed.
EXAMPLE:
A social media platform allows users to download a copy of their data, correct their personal details, or delete their account if they choose to.
Accountability Principle
WHAT IS IT?
Organizations should be accountable for complying with these privacy principles, and there should be mechanisms in place to ensure compliance.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Holding organizations accountable ensures that privacy standards are maintained and that there are consequences for mishandling data.
EXAMPLE:
A company appoints a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to oversee compliance with data protection laws and ensure that privacy policies are enforced within the organization.
Predictability
WHAT IS IT?
This is a Privacy Engineering Objective, which means that individuals should have a clear understanding of how their personal data will be collected, used, and shared. They should not be surprised by any unexpected uses of their data, and the data handling practices should match their reasonable expectations.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ELEMENTS?
1) Privacy principles are measurable
2) Stakeholders can adequately describe what is happening to personal data in their possession.
3) Privacy controls that go beyond privacy notice.
4) Built trust between stakeholders and individuals.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
People need to trust that their personal data is being handled in ways that they understand. If individuals know what to expect from an organization’s data practices, they can make informed decisions about whether to share their personal information.
EXAMPLE:
Imagine signing up for a social media account. If the company tells you upfront that your data will be used to show personalized ads and might be shared with third-party partners, you have a predictable understanding of how your information will be used. If the company later starts using your data for something entirely different—like selling it to unrelated businesses—this would violate the principle of predictability because it goes beyond what you originally expected.
Manageability
WHAT IS IT?
This is a privacy engineering objective, which refers to giving individuals control over their personal data. This means people should be able to access, correct, delete, or manage how their data is used. It also includes making it easy for people to give or withdraw consent for data processing.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ELEMENTS?
1) Collect only necessary information.
2) Ensure corrections can be made to inaccurate information.
3) Privacy preferences are properly implemented and maintained.
4) Assign appropriate stakeholders to administer change to an individual’s information.
5) Support any technical measures necessary to protect identity.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Manageability empowers individuals to maintain control over their personal information, ensuring that they can correct inaccuracies, delete unwanted data, or stop certain uses of their data. It helps build trust between individuals and organizations.
EXAMPLE:
A mobile app that allows users to delete their account and all associated personal data provides manageability. If a user no longer wants the app to store their information, they should have the ability to remove it from the system. Additionally, if users can easily adjust their privacy settings or update their information, they are being given the tools to manage their data.
