If you were the privacy expert advising the company, what steps would you suggest to realign the existing security monitoring and incident management to address privacy requirements especially those specific to client relationships?

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The company has a well-defined and tested Information security monitoring and incident management process in place. The process has been in place since last 10 years and has matured significantly over a period of time. There is a Security Operations Centre (SOC) to detect security incidents based on well-defined business rules.

The security incident management is based on ISO 27001 and defines incident types, alert levels, roles and responsibilities, escalation matrix, among others. The consultants advised company to realign the existing monitoring and incident management to cater to privacy requirements. The company consultants sought help of external privacy expert in this regard.

(Note: Candidates are requested to make and state assumptions wherever appropriate to reach a definitive conclusion)

Introduction and Background

XYZ is a major India based IT and Business Process Management (BPM) service provider listed at BSE and NSE. It has more than 1.5 lakh employees operating in 100 offices across 30 countries. It serves more than 500 clients across industry verticals ― BFSI, Retail, Government, Healthcare, Telecom among others in Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The company provides IT services including application development and maintenance, IT Infrastructure management, consulting, among others. It also offers IT products mainly for its BFSI customers.

The company is witnessing phenomenal growth in the BPM services over last few years including Finance & Accounting including credit card processing, Payroll processing, Customer support, Legal Process Outsourcing, among others and has rolled out platform based services. Most of the company’s revenue comes from the US from the BFSI sector. In order to diversify its portfolio, the company is looking to expand its operations in Europe. India, too has attracted company’s attention given the phenomenal increase in domestic IT spend esp. by the government through various large scale IT projects. The company is also very aggressive in the cloud and mobility space, with a strong focus on delivery of cloud services. When it comes to expanding operations in Europe, company is facing difficulties in realizing the full potential of the market because of privacy related concerns of the clients arising from the stringent regulatory requirements based on EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).

To get better access to this market, the company decided to invest in privacy, so that it is able to provide increased assurance to potential clients in the EU and this will also benefit its US operations because privacy concerns are also on rise in the US. It will also help company leverage outsourcing opportunities in the Healthcare sector in the US which would involve protection of sensitive medical records of the US citizens. The company believes that privacy will also be a key differentiator in the cloud business going forward. In short, privacy was taken up as a strategic initiative in the company in early 2011.

Since XYZ had an internal consulting arm, it assigned the responsibility of designing and implementing an enterprise wide privacy program to the consulting arm. The consulting arm had very good expertise in information security consulting but had limited expertise in the privacy domain. The project was to be driven by CIO’s office, in close consultation with the Corporate Information Security and Legal functions.

If you were the privacy expert advising the company, what steps would you suggest to realign the existing security monitoring and incident management to address privacy requirements especially those specific to client relationships? (250 to 500 words)

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Answer: As an external privacy expert, the first step I would suggest for XYZ company is to conduct a detailed assessment of their existing security monitoring and incident management processes. This should include an analysis of how data is collected, stored, and accessed; what kind of policies are currently in place; and any other relevant security measures. It should also identify areas where additional process or technical changes may be required to meet privacy requirements.

Once the initial assessment has been completed, I would recommend that XYZ take steps to ensure that its processes align with applicable laws and regulations regarding data protection, such as EU GDPR. For example, they should update their policies around data collection and storage so that they comply with GDPR’s requirements on consent and purpose limitation. Additionally, XYZ should ensure that their systems are secure and only authorized personnel can access the data.

Also I would suggest that XYZ develop a comprehensive incident response plan, indicating how they will address any data breaches or other privacy incidents. The plan should include steps for notification to affected individuals or organizations, containment of the incident, investigations into its cause and scope, and remediation efforts to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Lastly I would recommend that XYZ review their client contracts to ensure that they clearly describe the company’s commitments regarding data protection and security measures. This could include GDPR-compliant language on consent forms as well as clauses committing to regularly audit and update processes as necessary. These contractual terms will help protect both XYZ and their clients in the event of a privacy breach.

In conclusion, implementing these steps will help XYZ establish an effective privacy program that meets all applicable legal requirements, protects their clients’ data, and provides them with a competitive edge in the market. Additionally, it will ensure that they remain compliant and have appropriate measures in place to address any potential issues. By taking these proactive measures now, XYZ can ensure that they continue to successfully operate in both the EU and US markets while protecting the privacy of its customers.