The Building Blocks of a Data Protection Programme

Nowadays, privacy and data protection has become a vital area of focus for organisations of various sizes. If you are the new data protection officer, building a data protection programme might prove challenging.

This is especially true if the organisation already has privacy and data protection components in place. One of your primary tasks is to lay the foundation and merge new and existing pieces into your data protection programme. 

The Building Blocks of a Robust Data Protection Programme

When creating your data protection programme, you need to either pull existing data protection concepts together or build the data protection programme anew. This can help establish your data protection programme and help everyone in the team get a clear picture of the data protection and its importance in the organisation.

Building Block #01: External Data Protection Policy

If you don’t have an external data protection policy at the moment, create one. If the organisation has an existing policy, check and review to see if it needs an update or additional data. You can also check the policies of both big and small organisations to help you get a better understanding of the essential elements you need to include in your policy.

Building Block #02: Internal Data Protection Policy

Your internal data protection policy can also serve as a primer for the staff and employees. It should address various topics that are specific to how your data protection programme works in the organisation.

It is also ideal that you are able to lay out the types of data your organisation controls, the apt procedures for handling diverse types of data, and any protocols or data protection procedures that make sense for your organisation.

Building Block #03: Employee Training

Organising one (or more) informal training sessions can help educate everyone on the data protection principles for the organisation. It also allows them to ask any questions they have in mind.

Employee training can also help everyone have a better understanding of the current data protection program. It can also help raise awareness on data protection topics and help everyone determine potential data protection issues and what their roles are.

In addition, the support from senior leadership can make a world of difference when it comes to training. After all, it will only take one employee who is unaware of the data protection policy to put the organisation and all the data in its care at risk.

Building Block #04: Data Protection by Design

Data protection by design involves taking a proactive approach to data protection and building data protection considerations into new systems, products, and business processes. Regardless of the project, if you have the opportunity to voice data protection concerns at the outset, you are using the data protection by design approach.

As more and more people become aware of how businesses are handling and protecting their data, data protection by design can illustrate that your organisation takes privacy seriously.

Building Block #05: Breach Response Plan

Many data protection experts say a possible data protection breach is always likely to happen and it’s just a matter of when. Depending on the organisation, it is also possible that the security or tech team already has a data protection response plan in place. Otherwise, creating one should be a priority.

Your breach response plan should address crucial concerns like how a data breach investigation will be carried out, how coordination with the media and law enforcement will be done, and how the investigation will be conducted among other things.

It would also help if you have a PDPA certification so you are better equipped with new competencies and best practices. A PDPA certification can also provide proper guidance so you can comply and stay compliant with the PDPA.