DPO | Data protection officer

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Privacy protection supervisor:

The privacy protection supervisor’s fundamental responsibility is to represent the organization’s management in ensuring that the organization meets all the applicable regulatory privacy requirements and correctly implements the requirements of applicable privacy protection laws.

Which organizations need to appoint a privacy protection supervisor or a DPO?

Any organization that wishes to invest in building trust with its clients. In today’s world, where organizations routinely collect personal data from their users and clients, hacks and data breaches have become all too common. Companies that collect personal data from their customers and employees have a responsibility to make every effort to protect these people’s privacy and inform them about what they are doing with their data. This communication is essential for building trust.

Appointing a privacy protection supervisor or data protection officer is becoming common practice worldwide. Appointing a DPO is a requirement under GDPR (the EU’s data protection regulation).

The GDPR applies to any organization that uses data collected from people in the EU, but the requirement to appoint a DPO only applies to public authorities or bodies (and certain other organizations that meet specific conditions) and organizations whose core activities require large-scale, regular, and systematic monitoring of individuals.

A company that decides to appoint a DPO voluntarily is still bound by all GDPR requirements that pertain to the DPO.

In Israel, the Israeli Privacy Protection Authority has published recommendations regarding the appointment of a privacy protection supervisor. Although appointing one is not a requirement, a privacy protection supervisor’s mission is to ensure the organization complies with the applicable regulations and to facilitate the interaction between the organization and various stakeholders (e.g., regulators, the board of directors, clients, and suppliers).

The requirement to appoint a DPO only applies to specific conditions. Need to know if your company meets those conditions? Hermeticon’s expert consultants are happy to help.

According to the GDPR, a data protection officer must:

(1) Have the freedom to act in any way necessary to fulfill their duties.

(2) Report directly to the company’s highest management level.

(3) Have all the resources and authorities required to fulfill the role.

(4) Be involved in all the matters related to information security and protecting personal data in the organization.

(5) Have no conflicts of interest between their role as the DPO and their other roles and responsibilities in the organization.

(6) Not be affected by any sanctions or restrictions that infringe on the DPO’s rights due to their involvement in the company’s control and audit processes.

What does the role entail?

The DPO has the following obligations and responsibilities, as listed in the GDPR:

The DPO ensures that the company meets its obligations under the GDPR and other privacy protection laws. They are also responsible for ensuring that the company’s employees comply with the relevant procedures and regulations and are aware of the importance of protecting personal data. The DPO must have professional expertise in the relevant fields, and they must manage the relevant audit processes in the organization.

Using parameters listed in the relevant regulations, the privacy protection supervisor must map the risk level the organization’s database is exposed. They must then conduct a privacy impact assessment, in which they map the privacy aspect of the organization’s data flow processes. Building on the assessment’s result, the DPO must lead the company’s privacy engineering work. This includes designing the legal, technical and organizational aspects of the company’s privacy protection system.

The DPO must conduct risk surveys and routine audits as needed to ensure the company complies with the applicable laws and regulations. To this end, the DPO must have professional and technical knowledge of the

company’s databases as well as the relevant legal requirements.

The DPO must also advise the company’s management on how to act to meet legal requirements that pertain to privacy. This means the DPO must be well-versed in the field and up-to-date on recent developments.

The DPO is the company’s liaison with local and foreign data protection regulators.

The DPO must have in-depth knowledge of the contexts in which they work, including knowledge about all the potential risks associated with storing and processing personal data. This also means that the DPO must be able to design work processes and information systems.

Do the privacy protection supervisor and information security supervisor fulfill the same role?

Although both roles have to do with managing the organization’s data, they are fundamentally different. The information security supervisor is responsible for the organization’s information assets and needs to ensure they are protected from various threats and risks, whereas the privacy protection supervisor’s responsibility is to oversee the way the organization handles personal data by ensuring all processes about such data comply with the law.

In conclusion:

The DPO must possess professional expertise in information security, IT, law, and intra-organizational regulation.

With the role requiring such a broad range of qualifications, many companies struggle to find suitable candidates and appointing an existing position-holder risk causing a conflict of interest.

Hermeticon’s third-party DPO service can solve this problem for you and save you from what can quickly become a recruitment nightmare.

We specialize in intra-organizational regulation, information security, and information security standards. Aided by the expertise of our top-notch in-house legal advisor, our team can help ensure that your company is in full compliance with regulatory requirements.

So what are you waiting for? To learn more, call 03-7176281 or leave your contact information here and we will get back to you.