In today’s business environment, organizations must pay special attention to the protection of personally identifiable information (PII). Regulatory compliance has become not simply a legal obligation but also an essential component of increasing public trust and mitigating risk. Thus, understanding key PII compliance steps for data protection is critical for business success.
Step 1: Know the Laws and Regulations
Failing to comply with privacy laws and industry-specific regulations can result in hefty fines, as well as loss of trust and damage to brand reputation. But you cannot comply with a regulation you do not understand. Consequently, ensuring PII compliance begins with understanding what rules apply to your organization based on location and industry.
For example, any organization that accepts credit card payments must comply with PCI DSS. Likewise, healthcare providers must comply with HIPAA, and organizations that handle data for European residents must abide by GDPR.
Staying on top of a patchwork of federal, state, and international laws, in addition to industry-specific regulations, can prove challenging. Work closely with your legal team to keep abreast of regulatory changes. Additionally, participate in industry forums and websites and consider hiring a data privacy professional to monitor updates and provide compliance advice.
Step 2: Conduct a PII Inventory
To protect sensitive data, you must know what data your organization handles. Conduct a thorough inventory to determine what PII your organization collects, how that data is stored, who has access to it, and how it is used. This will include identifying all systems, databases, and processes that handle PII.
Step 3: Classify Data and Implement a Data Governance Framework
Once you have a picture of your organization’s PII, classify the information based on sensitivity and prioritize it for protection. Labeling sensitive data allows you to apply policies based on data type. For example, HIPAA requires encryption of PHI, while the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) includes strict mandates around retention and destruction of financial records.
Next, map the flow of data within the organization. This data mapping will prove essential as you build a data governance framework that defines PII handling policies and procedures. For instance, governance strategies should include policies for data retention, information sharing, and so forth. Automate these policies where possible.
Step 4: Implement Robust Security
A key aspect of a strong data governance framework includes data security. Most privacy laws and regulations require companies to take reasonable steps to protect data from unauthorized access. Robust security will include encrypting PII both at rest and in transit. It will also include multi-factor authentication (MFA), role-based access controls, and security audits.
In addition to the technical aspects of cyber security, data security programs must address the human aspect. Conduct regular, targeted security awareness training. This training should cover data protection best practices, as well as procedures specific to compliance and the handling of PII.
Step 5: Develop Privacy Policies and Ensure Transparency
Transparency plays an essential role in PII compliance. You must make it clear to the public what data you are collecting and how you will use it. Additionally, many privacy laws include a mandate for opt-in or opt-out mechanisms. That is, you need to obtain explicit consent before collecting PII. And it should be easy for users to opt in or out of data sharing.
Step 6: Regularly Review and Update Compliance Strategies
The regulatory landscape changes constantly, as does the business environment. A change in technology, a new business practice, or a company merger will all affect the data landscape. Therefore, maintaining PII compliance will require regular audits and updates to policies and procedures.
Conduct periodic risk assessments to identify any security vulnerabilities that may affect PII. Additionally, implement automated data compliance monitoring to provide crucial visibility into targeted data. Compliance monitoring will help to address potential privacy law violations early, reducing or eliminating legal issues and other complications.
Implement PII Compliance Steps for Data Protection with Expert Help
PII compliance requires a strategic, multifaceted approach. These steps provide a starting point. For more detailed guidance as you implement your compliance strategy, consider partnering with security and compliance experts such as Messaging Architects. With deep data expertise and intelligent compliance technology, we can help take the pain out of PII compliance.
Keep your data secure and compliant
- Archive
- eDiscovery
- Compliance
eGovernance is a Cloud based solution for preserving, discovering and accessing digital data within your email and document storage systems for compliance, audit, security, eDiscovery and warehousing of critical or older data.
