How DSPM Lays the Foundation for Data Privacy Compliance

Do you know which companies have access to your personal data? Unless you’re living off the grid (and just so happened to be reading about DSPM at your local library) odds are, you don’t have any idea who has access to your personal data. Nearly every business we interact with requires some form of personal data in return for their services, whether it’s name, email, or phone number. As we know, many businesses also have access to sensitive personal data, such as credit card numbers or critical health information. 

Surely, the businesses that collect this information know how to find it. They know where it is, who has access to it, how it’s protected, and which third parties they’ve shared it with, right? The reality is, most companies don’t have the data visibility they need to answer these questions. Some don’t even know where to start.

DSPM as the Foundation for Data Privacy Compliance

On the journey to data privacy compliance, the first step is simply knowing what personal data you have. Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) simplifies this. Data Discovery, a core component of DSPM, helps you find what personal data exists and builds the foundation to give visibility for any future data that is collected. 

But another critical step must come next. You need to classify that data so you know exactly what it is, whether it’s personal data or not. DSPM conducts that classification on your behalf. 

This data visibility and classification is the cornerstone to any successful data privacy program. But keep in mind one vital component: Accuracy. Building a data privacy foundation on bad data classification, or letting personal data slip through the cracks, puts your organization at risk. This makes an accurate DSPM solution – and one that can learn over time – vital.   

Building on Data Discovery & Classification  

The value of DSPM for data privacy compliance doesn’t stop with better data visibility and classification. DSPM opens the door to even more opportunities. For example:

• Data retrieval for Data Subject Access Requests (DSAR). Personal data is undoubtedly spread across different systems, in different formats, in different detail. When an individual makes a data subject access request (DSAR), DSPM can help you identify where that personal data resides and what type of personal data it is. 
• Data minimization of unnecessary personal data. The GDPR states, personal data must be “adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed (‘data minimisation’).” As a regulatory mandate and core Privacy by Design principle, data minimization is key to data privacy compliance. Some data just isn’t needed anymore. DSPM can empower your data minimization efforts by identifying stale or unnecessary data stores that house personal data. 
• Unauthorized access of personal data. Access to personal data should be as minimal as possible. With DSPM, you can take a Zero Trust Data Access (ZTDA) approach by pinpointing who can access certain data and what level of access they have – across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS solutions, and even on-prem. From there, it’s about revoking access as necessary.  
• Data flow visualization with data lineage. From a data privacy compliance perspective, knowing where personal data goes is critical. DSPM can visualize these data flows with the automated creation of data lineage diagrams to inform your data map.
• Data residency visibility. One of the challenges of data privacy compliance is knowing which regulations, frameworks, or standards are applicable to your organization. Where personal data resides or where it is shared geographically can introduce different requirements. DSPM helps you identify these locations and automatically tag which regulations, frameworks, or standards are in scope. 
• Personal data access by third parties. More than ever before, organizations are sharing data with third parties, so knowing which of them can access personal data becomes difficult. DSPM can identify not only what people can access personal data, but also the third parties themselves. This visibility enables you to identify data that shouldn’t be shared, identify third parties that shouldn’t be in use, or in the case of a third-party data breach, what data might be at risk. 

DSPM for Data Privacy Compliance   

At its core, privacy compliance is a data problem. The more you know about your use of personal data – what type, where it resides, and who has access – the better foundation you can create to build your privacy program. Try Cyera for DSPM and kickstart your privacy compliance journey today.