Exam 1: Certified Information Privacy Manager

What is one obligation that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes on data processors?

SCENARIO Please use the following to answer the next question: Edufox has hosted an annual convention of users of its famous e-learning software platform, and over time, it has become a grand event. It fills one of the large downtown conference hotels and overflows into the others, with several thousand attendees enjoying three days of presentations, panel discussions and networking. The convention is the centerpiece of the company's product rollout schedule and a great training opportunity for current users. The sales force also encourages prospective clients to attend to get a better sense of the ways in which the system can be customized to meet diverse needs and understand that when they buy into this system, they are joining a community that feels like family. This year's conference is only three weeks away, and you have just heard news of a new initiative supporting it: a smartphone app for attendees. The app will support late registration, highlight the featured presentations and provide a mobile version of the conference program. It also links to a restaurant reservation system with the best cuisine in the areas featured. "It's going to be great," the developer, Deidre Hoffman, tells you, "if, that is, we actually get it working!" She laughs nervously but explains that because of the tight time frame she'd been given to build the app, she outsourced the job to a local firm. "It's just three young people," she says, "but they do great work." She describes some of the other apps they have built. When asked how they were selected for this job, Deidre shrugs. "They do good work, so I chose them." Deidre is a terrific employee with a strong track record. That's why she's been charged to deliver this rushed project. You're sure she has the best interests of the company at heart, and you don't doubt that she's under pressure to meet a deadline that cannot be pushed back. However, you have concerns about the app's handling of personal data and its security safeguards. Over lunch in the break room, you start to talk to her about it, but she quickly tries to reassure you, "I'm sure with your help we can fix any security issues if we have to, but I doubt there'll be any. These people build apps for a living, and they know what they're doing. You worry too much, but that's why you're so good at your job!" You see evidence that company employees routinely circumvent the privacy officer in developing new initiatives. How can you best draw attention to the scope of this problem?

SCENARIO Please use the following to answer the next question: As the director of data protection for Consolidated Records Corporation, you are justifiably pleased with your accomplishments so far. Your hiring was precipitated by warnings from regulatory agencies following a series of relatively minor data breaches that could easily have been worse. However, you have not had a reportable incident for the three years that you have been with the company. In fact, you consider your program a model that others in the data storage industry may note in their own program development. You started the program at Consolidated from a jumbled mix of policies and procedures and worked toward coherence across departments and throughout operations. You were aided along the way by the program's sponsor, the vice president of operations, as well as by a Privacy Team that started from a clear understanding of the need for change. Initially, your work was greeted with little confidence or enthusiasm by the company's "old guard" among both the executive team and frontline personnel working with data and interfacing with clients. Through the use of metrics that showed the costs not only of the breaches that had occurred, but also projections of the costs that easily could occur given the current state of operations, you soon had the leaders and key decision-makers largely on your side. Many of the other employees were more resistant, but face-to-face meetings with each department and the development of a baseline privacy training program achieved sufficient "buy-in" to begin putting the proper procedures into place. Now, privacy protection is an accepted component of all current operations involving personal or protected data and must be part of the end product of any process of technological development. While your approach is not systematic, it is fairly effective. You are left contemplating: What must be done to maintain the program and develop it beyond just a data breach prevention program? How can you build on your success? What are the next action steps? What analytic can be used to track the financial viability of the program as it develops?

SCENARIO Please use the following to answer the next question: Paul Daniels, with years of experience as a CEO, is worried about his son Carlton's successful venture, Gadgo. A technological innovator in the communication industry that quickly became profitable, Gadgo has moved beyond its startup phase. While it has retained its vibrant energy, Paul fears that under Carlton's direction, the company may not be taking its risks or obligations as seriously as it needs to. Paul has hired you, a privacy Consultant, to assess the company and report to both father and son. "Carlton won't listen to me," Paul says, "but he may pay attention to an expert." Gadgo's workplace is a clubhouse for innovation, with games, toys, snacks, espresso machines, giant fish tanks and even an iguana who regards you with little interest. Carlton, too, seems bored as he describes to you the company's procedures and technologies for data protection. It's a loose assemblage of controls, lacking consistency and with plenty of weaknesses. "This is a technology company," Carlton says. "We create. We innovate. I don't want unnecessary measures that will only slow people down and clutter their thoughts." The meeting lasts until early evening. Upon leaving, you walk through the office. It looks as if a strong windstorm has recently blown through, with papers scattered across desks and tables and even the floor. A "cleaning crew" of one teenager is emptying the trash bins. A few computers have been left on for the night; others are missing. Carlton takes note of your attention to this: "Most of my people take their laptops home with them, or use their own tablets or phones. I want them to use whatever helps them to think and be ready day or night for that great insight. It may only come once!" What would be the best kind of audit to recommend for Gadgo?

SCENARIO Please use the following to answer the next question: For 15 years, Albert has worked at Treasure Box - a mail order company in the United States (U.S.) that used to sell decorative candles around the world, but has recently decided to limit its shipments to customers in the 48 contiguous states. Despite his years of experience, Albert is often overlooked for managerial positions. His frustration about not being promoted, coupled with his recent interest in issues of privacy protection, have motivated Albert to be an agent of positive change. He will soon interview for a newly advertised position, and during the interview, Albert plans on making executives aware of lapses in the company's privacy program. He feels certain he will be rewarded with a promotion for preventing negative consequences resulting from the company's outdated policies and procedures. For example, Albert has learned about the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountans)/CICA (Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants) Privacy Maturity Model (PMM). Albert thinks the model is a useful way to measure Treasure Box's ability to protect personal data. Albert has noticed that Treasure Box fails to meet the requirements of the highest level of maturity of this model; at his interview, Albert will pledge to assist the company with meeting this level in order to provide customers with the most rigorous security available. Albert does want to show a positive outlook during his interview. He intends to praise the company's commitment to the security of customer and employee personal data against external threats. However, Albert worries about the high turnover rate within the company, particularly in the area of direct phone marketing. He sees many unfamiliar faces every day who are hired to do the marketing, and he often hears complaints in the lunch room regarding long hours and low pay, as well as what seems to be flagrant disregard for company procedures. In addition, Treasure Box has had two recent security incidents. The company has responded to the incidents with internal audits and updates to security safeguards. However, profits still seem to be affected and anecdotal evidence indicates that many people still harbor mistrust. Albert wants to help the company recover. He knows there is at least one incident the public in unaware of, although Albert does not know the details. He believes the company's insistence on keeping the incident a secret could be a further detriment to its reputation. One further way that Albert wants to help Treasure Box regain its stature is by creating a toll-free number for customers, as well as a more efficient procedure for responding to customer concerns by postal mail. In addition to his suggestions for improvement, Albert believes that his knowledge of the company's recent business maneuvers will also impress the interviewers. For example, Albert is aware of the company's intention to acquire a medical supply company in the coming weeks. With his forward thinking, Albert hopes to convince the managers who will be interviewing him that he is right for the job. Based on Albert's observations, executive leadership should most likely pay closer attention to what?

SCENARIO Please use the following to answer the next question: Penny has recently joined Ace Space, a company that sells homeware accessories online, as its new privacy officer. The company is based in California but thanks to some great publicity from a social media influencer last year, the company has received an influx of sales from the EU and has set up a regional office in Ireland to support this expansion. To become familiar with Ace Space's practices and assess what her privacy priorities will be, Penny has set up meetings with a number of colleagues to hear about the work that they have been doing and their compliance efforts. Penny's colleague in Marketing is excited by the new sales and the company's plans, but is also concerned that Penny may curtail some of the growth opportunities he has planned. He tells her "I heard someone in the breakroom talking about some new privacy laws but I really don't think it affects us. We're just a small company. I mean we just sell accessories online, so what's the real risk?" He has also told her that he works with a number of small companies that help him get projects completed in a hurry. "We've got to meet our deadlines otherwise we lose money. I just sign the contracts and get Jim in finance to push through the payment. Reviewing the contracts takes time that we just don't have." In her meeting with a member of the IT team, Penny has learned that although Ace Space has taken a number of precautions to protect its website from malicious activity, it has not taken the same level of care of its physical files or internal infrastructure. Penny's colleague in IT has told her that a former employee lost an encrypted USB key with financial data on it when he left. The company nearly lost access to their customer database last year after they fell victim to a phishing attack. Penny is told by her IT colleague that the IT team "didn't know what to do or who should do what. We hadn't been trained on it but we're a small team though, so it worked out OK in the end." Penny is concerned that these issues will compromise Ace Space's privacy and data protection. Penny is aware that the company has solid plans to grow its international sales and will be working closely with the CEO to give the organization a data "shake up". Her mission is to cultivate a strong privacy culture within the company. Penny has a meeting with Ace Space's CEO today and has been asked to give her first impressions and an overview of her next steps. To help Penny and her CEO with their objectives, what would be the most helpful approach to address her IT concerns?

For an organization that has just experienced a data breach, what might be the least relevant metric for a company's privacy and governance team?

SCENARIO Please use the following to answer the next question: Ben works in the IT department of IgNight, Inc., a company that designs lighting solutions for its clients. Although IgNight's customer base consists primarily of offices in the US, some individuals have been so impressed by the unique aesthetic and energy-saving design of the light fixtures that they have requested IgNight's installations in their homes across the globe. One Sunday morning, while using his work laptop to purchase tickets for an upcoming music festival, Ben happens to notice some unusual user activity on company files. From a cursory review, all the data still appears to be where it is meant to be but he can't shake off the feeling that something is not right. He knows that it is a possibility that this could be a colleague performing unscheduled maintenance, but he recalls an email from his company's security team reminding employees to be on alert for attacks from a known group of malicious actors specifically targeting the industry. Ben is a diligent employee and wants to make sure that he protects the company but he does not want to bother his hard-working colleagues on the weekend. He is going to discuss the matter with this manager first thing in the morning but wants to be prepared so he can demonstrate his knowledge in this area and plead his case for a promotion. Going forward, what is the best way for IgNight to prepare its IT team to manage these kind of security events?

Which of the following best demonstrates the effectiveness of a firm's privacy incident response process?

SCENARIO Please use the following to answer the next question. Manasa is a product manager at Omnipresent Omnimedia, where she is responsible for leading the development of the company's flagship product, the Handy Helper. The Handy Helper is an application that can be used in the home to manage family calendars, do online shopping, and schedule doctor appointments. After having had a successful launch in the United States, the Handy Helper is about to be made available for purchase worldwide. The packaging and user guide for the Handy Helper indicate that it is a "privacy friendly" product suitable for the whole family, including children, but does not provide any further detail or privacy notice. In order to use the application, a family creates a single account, and the primary user has access to all information about the other users. Upon start up, the primary user must check a box consenting to receive marketing emails from Omnipresent Omnimedia and selected marketing partners in order to be able to use the application. Sanjay, the head of privacy at Omnipresent Omnimedia, was working on an agreement with a European distributor of Handy Helper when he fielded many questions about the product from the distributor. Sanjay needed to look more closely at the product in order to be able to answer the questions as he was not involved in the product development process. In speaking with the product team, he learned that the Handy Helper collected and stored all of a user's sensitive medical information for the medical appointment scheduler. In fact, all of the user's information is stored by Handy Helper for the additional purpose of creating additional products and to analyze usage of the product. This data is all stored in the cloud and is encrypted both during transmission and at rest. Consistent with the CEO's philosophy that great new product ideas can come from anyone, all Omnipresent Omnimedia employees have access to user data under a program called "Eureka." Omnipresent Omnimedia is hoping that at some point in the future, the data will reveal insights that could be used to create a fully automated application that runs on artificial intelligence, but as of yet, Eureka is not well-defined and is considered a long-term goal. What can Sanjay do to minimize the risks of offering the product in Europe?

Which of the following privacy frameworks are legally binding?

SCENARIO Please use the following to answer the next question: Edufox has hosted an annual convention of users of its famous e-learning software platform, and over time, it has become a grand event. It fills one of the large downtown conference hotels and overflows into the others, with several thousand attendees enjoying three days of presentations, panel discussions and networking. The convention is the centerpiece of the company's product rollout schedule and a great training opportunity for current users. The sales force also encourages prospective clients to attend to get a better sense of the ways in which the system can be customized to meet diverse needs and understand that when they buy into this system, they are joining a community that feels like family. This year's conference is only three weeks away, and you have just heard news of a new initiative supporting it: a smartphone app for attendees. The app will support late registration, highlight the featured presentations and provide a mobile version of the conference program. It also links to a restaurant reservation system with the best cuisine in the areas featured. "It's going to be great," the developer, Deidre Hoffman, tells you, "if, that is, we actually get it working!" She laughs nervously but explains that because of the tight time frame she'd been given to build the app, she outsourced the job to a local firm. "It's just three young people," she says, "but they do great work." She describes some of the other apps they have built. When asked how they were selected for this job, Deidre shrugs. "They do good work, so I chose them." Deidre is a terrific employee with a strong track record. That's why she's been charged to deliver this rushed project. You're sure she has the best interests of the company at heart, and you don't doubt that she's under pressure to meet a deadline that cannot be pushed back. However, you have concerns about the app's handling of personal data and its security safeguards. Over lunch in the break room, you start to talk to her about it, but she quickly tries to reassure you, "I'm sure with your help we can fix any security issues if we have to, but I doubt there'll be any. These people build apps for a living, and they know what they're doing. You worry too much, but that's why you're so good at your job!" Since it is too late to restructure the contract with the vendor or prevent the app from being deployed, what is the best step for you to take next?