An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or, in the case of a privacy audit, something much more valuable: the trust of your stakeholders.
Like a privacy assessment, a privacy audit looks at the structure, shape, governance and operational resilience of a company’s privacy and data protection program. Unlike an assessment, however, which serves to evaluate the company’s privacy posture, an audit is a formalized process for evaluating compliance with specific standards or regulations. For example, a well-designed data privacy audit can help an organization define and implement steps to maintain data compliance — and avoid operational trouble.
The request for a privacy audit can come from a variety of sources. It may originate from an internal audit team, or externally, from a client, customer or regulator. A company might also seek to conduct an audit to earn a compliance certification mandated by certain organizations or regulations — for example, the third-party audits required to earn designations such as ISO or SOC (accounting).
While no empirical evidence points to a rise in privacy audits, it’s likely that more companies are undertaking them now, motivated…
