Data privacy is a significant and growing concern for people everywhere. For businesses, however, it’s more than that. A failure to protect customers’ data can turn into an existential threat. To avoid that, every business needs a comprehensive data privacy plan. For businesses without one, it’s not always clear where to start. To remedy that, here are five tips on creating a data privacy policy for a business.
1. Begin With a Data Inventory
Developing a data privacy policy must always begin with a complete inventory of a business’s data. The inventory must list the data types the business collects and stores and why they do so. That information will guide the creation of data privacy guidelines tailored to the company’s specific needs. Additionally, it can identify data in the company’s possession that it may not need. That knowledge is crucial to inform the next stage of the process.
2. Develop a Data Minimization Strategy
The best possible way to protect customer data privacy is to limit how much data gets collected in the first place. It’s a concept known as data minimization, and it’s the core of any wise data privacy policy. For starters, begin with the secure disposal of stored data for which there’s no apparent purpose. Then, look for ways to cut down on data for which there’s a business use case. For example, anonymizing customer data may be possible without sacrificing utility if you’re using the data for analytical purposes.
3. Define Data Access Needs
Next, setting clear restrictions on who can access stored data is essential. In doing so, the best approach is to use the principle of least privilege. That means limiting user access to the smallest possible subset of data needed for each employee to do their job. From a data privacy standpoint, access restrictions are a key risk management strategy. They make it possible to limit the damage to the business in the event of an employee credential theft or phishing attack.
4. Choose a Governance Platform
With user access rights determined, choosing a data platform capable of enforcing them is necessary. Selecting a platform that natively integrates into the business’s existing infrastructure is wise. For example, if most of the business’s data resides on a particular vendor’s cloud servers, choose a governance platform that supports it. For a hybrid storage infrastructure, look for a platform that accommodates local and remote storage.
5. Define Employee Responsibilities
Finally, it’s necessary to teach employee responsibilities concerning data privacy. The policy must spell out each employee’s obligations and the consequences for not meeting them. It’s important to remember that the data privacy policy will remain as individual employees come and go. Therefore, it’s wise to delineate responsibilities based on data access types rather than job descriptions. That way, it won’t be necessary to change the policy as access rights and job titles change.
Data Privacy Is a Business Imperative
At the end of the day, the quality of the business’s data privacy policy will determine its efficacy. So, it’s essential to take as much time as necessary to craft it, leaving no stone unturned. With the stakes so high, getting a data privacy policy right matters far more than how long it takes to create it. Also, revisiting a data policy as circumstances change will always be necessary. So, documenting the initial creation process is worth doing, too.
