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Published on January 1, 2021 AUTHOR Eric Andrews
A Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) is the means by which individuals request that your enterprise discloses what personal data it holds on them and how you use or intend to use it. Submitting DSARs is one of the Data Subject Rights granted to consumers under data privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These laws not only give consumers awareness about their rights over their personal data but also provide the tools necessary to exercise them.
Legal sections within the CCPA and GDPR outlining businesses’/data controllers’ responsibility to adhere to DSARs:
Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.130(a)
In order to comply with Sections 1798.100, 1798.105, 1798.110, 1798.115, and 1798.125, a business shall in a form that is reasonably accessible to consumers:
Article 15 GDPR
An enterprise served with a DSAR is legally obligated to fulfill these requests within a limited timeframe to avoid non-compliance. This is why automating the processing of DSARs is necessary to respond within the aforementioned timeframe. So, let’s discuss the importance of DSARs, how they differ under CCPA and GDPR, and how your business can cost-effectively prepare for and automatically respond to DSARs, which are likely to increase substantially in a post-CCPA world.
DSARs give consumers unprecedented control over their personal information stored by organizations, from access to data and requesting information on stored data to requesting information on the data safeguards the organization provides. With CCPA, consumers can request DSARs twice a year at no cost whatsoever.
For businesses, speedy and accurate fulfillment of DSARs substantially boosts their brand image while also ensuring compliance with CCPA regulations. However, some estimates put the cost of the fulfillment of each DSAR could be in the thousands, since it requires data gathering across a multitude of systems, putting them in one place, going through data records and compiling it all in a comprehensive report. Moreover, fulfilling each DSAR can take weeks. This is where a solution based on automation can be a potent weapon.
While both CCPA and GDPR provide consumers with mechanisms to exercise greater control over their data, there are some fundamental differences between how much power a consumer has under each law. Let’s have a look:
Many expect that the number of receiving DSARs have increased significantly after CCPA. So let’s explore what is required and how to prepare:
Organizations have 45 days to respond and fulfill a customer’s data subject request, in a transferable electronic format. These obligations may vary depending on the customer’s request and how their information is handled.
Deletion requests involve not only team members from within the organization, but also all third-party vendors and partners with whom the personal information has been shared.
CCPA requires the disclosure of rights and communication about DSARs, as does the GDPR. The rights given to consumers under CCPA and GDPR are similar but not identical. This means that organizations will need to change their communication accordingly.
The following are the steps required to process and fulfill a DSAR:
Here are several risks associated with fulfilling a data subject request you must watch out for:
One important factor to consider is that using traditional means will do more harm than good. For example, using emails to deal with DSARs can be dangerous as the risk of data sprawl increases when sending and receiving data over a system that is not secure. Moving personal information in an unencrypted system increases the risk of data breaches. It takes an average of 196 days for an organization to pick up on a data breach, making it essential for enterprises to fortify and automate their systems to protect themselves from any data breach.
When responding to a DSAR, organizations are required to have the following heading in their response:
Here are some highlights:
Large organizations may have hundreds of millions of records about their consumers, often spread across an array of systems. Sorting this data and creating a data inventory to cope with DSARs is a challenging task that requires organizations to automate their current practices.
At SECURITI.ai, we have solutions that offer robotic automation, machine learning and secure cross-channel collaboration to help your business stay prepared for CCPA.
To learn more about automation and orchestration of data subject requests and how much time you can save, check out the video below or schedule a demo to see it live, in action!
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