The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that directs businesses to protect the privacy and personal information of citizens of the European Union. GDPR compliance applies to all organizations that are either established within the EU or conduct business-related transactions within the EU.
The GDPR empowers individuals, also known as data subjects, with greater ownership and control over their personally identifiable information (PII) by ensuring that the following rights are secured:
- Right to be informed: Organizations must inform customers about the specific information that is collected from them and processed.
- Right to access: Data subjects must be granted access to their PII held by organizations at every step of the data processing journey.
- Right to be forgotten: Individuals have the right to demand the complete erasure of their PII held by organizations.
- Right to rectify: This right ensures that individuals can direct organizations to take corrective measures whenever the individuals find errors or inaccuracies in their PII that is stored by organizations.
- Right to restrict processing: Users can limit the exposure of their data or the way the organization processes the data.
- Right to portability: Individuals can reuse their personal information across multiple organizations.
- Right to object: Users can raise objections to organizations about the way their data is managed.
With user privacy becoming a matter of grave concern, noncompliance with the GDPR and other data regulations across the globe can have major financial implications. Failure to comply with GDPR regulations can result in companies paying fines of up to $20 million.
How GDPR compliance benefits organizations
Contrary to the view of it being a necessary evil, compliance can benefit organizations in multiple ways. Apart from driving positive organization-level changes, like incorporating standardized security practices in day-to-day operations, the GDPR also gifts organizations a myriad of advantages as by-products. Some of these include:
Built-in security:
With an emphasis on data protection by design and default, GDPR compliance ensures that organizations incorporate technical and organizational measures that are cybersecure, such as data minimization and pseudonymization. These rules help companies build products and services that are inherently secure.
Enhanced trustworthiness:
The GDPR provides organizations an opportunity to build customer trust and loyalty. By being GDPR-compliant, organizations can reassure existing and potential customers that their data is indeed in a safer place with appropriate security controls to guard it. With enhanced trustworthiness as an outcome, GDPR compliance can considerably improve a company's reputation.
Comprehensive handling of sensitive assets:
By defining clear boundaries with respect to collecting and managing personal data, the GDPR helps organizations gain a better understanding of how to secure sensitive data and other critical assets without overstepping the bounds of privacy. For instance, Article 32 of the GDPR, which upholds the implementation of secure data processing practices, can also be applied to securing an organization's in-house resources.
Transparent communication:
By granting the right to be informed to the customer, the GDPR ensures that organizations operate with transparency. Additionally, with the introduction of data protection officers, who are entrusted with supervising companies' end-to-end data processing strategies, the GDPR helps organizations remain accountable for the security of the data they hold and process.
Reduced overheads:
With data minimization at its core, the GDPR allows businesses to do away with expensive infrastructure designed to handle excessive data. Also, by following the GDPR's consistent push for data protection by design, organizations can scale up their infrastructure while avoiding unnecessary costs incurred from managing legacy solutions.
Complying with the GDPR
Complying with the GDPR can be an uphill battle, and organizations must prepare for a cultural shift to do so. But the benefits of achieving compliance go both ways; it not only assures customers that their data is in safe hands but also drastically improves an organization's security posture and reputation.