Data Inventories Becoming More Than a Best Practice, Says Privacy Consultant
Conducting a data inventory is growing in importance from a best practice to almost a requirement for organizations complying with state privacy laws, said Colleen Yushchak of consultant Ankura on a webinar Wednesday co-hosted by attorneys from Squire Patton.
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“Not only that,” but “it's a foundational component of your privacy program,” she said. “If you don't know where your data is, what data you have [and] who you're sharing it with, you're just not going to be able to update your privacy notice or do consumer rights processes correctly."
However, Yushchak, a senior managing director at the firm, said she finds that companies are often confused about what a data inventory is, noting that it’s more than an assets list in Microsoft Excel. It’s important to “link those assets to processing activities -- business activities that involve personal data … so that you understand how the data is flowing. That's going to help you with cross-border transfer requirements and understanding what third parties you're sharing data with.”