In the age of information, organizations have increased the amount of consumer data housed in structured and unstructured environments. As consumers become increasingly aware of this and what their rights are under current and future legislation, the number of data subject access requests is increasing. According to Automated Intellegence, “A body which represents UK data protection officers has reported that there’s been a 66% increase in the average number of DSARs received” (Automated Intelligence, 2021)”

What’s brought on this large jump in DSARs? It’s an amalgamation of consumer awareness, data breaches, trickle down, and an influx of DSAR aggregators and authorized agents. When large breaches are reported in the media consumers become alarmed and begin considering how much of their own personal information they’ve given out. If a large organization within your industry finds itself managing a data incident the trickle down to your organization can be swift and severe. Above all, DSAR aggregators and authorized agents like Mine and One.Thing.Less are giving consumers the ability to send DSARs to multiple companies with the click of their mouse.

When organizations are faced with a rise in the number of requests and don’t have an automated response plan in place that’s where human error comes into play. According to BBC news there were 36 data breaches reported by the Office of the Data Protection Authority between July and August and 22 of those breaches were a result of personal information being sent to the wrong person by email or post. “A spokesman said: ‘In extreme cases, a personal data breach can cause lasting harm to the people whose data has been breached, not to mention the reputational damage that can be done to the organizations responsible for what went wrong” (BBC News, 2021).”

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Data breach costs have seen a dramatic increase, as well. According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2020 “Cost of Data Breach Study,” the global average for a data breach is $3.83 million, but the average cost of a data breach in the United States has hit an all-time high of $8.64 million” (Brisco, 2021).”

Advanced preparation is key to minimizing the risks of human error and reducing the cost of a breach, which is no longer considered a matter of if it happens, but a matter of when. We recommend preparing for this rise in DSAR requests and mitigating risks by doing the following:

• Automate your DSAR response procedures to avoid an incident.
  • The less manual steps in your process, the less likely it is to be met with human error.
  • Truyo automates the entire process by mapping out all of your data so it can easily be sources for DSARs and automatically begins a truly touchless process to respond and effectuate consumer-requested changes.
• Create your incident response plan immediately.
  • Incident response is becoming more regulated by the day as US states seek to protect consumers. Notifications cadences are prescribed and need to be followed acutely to remain in compliance.
  • Cyber incident insurance rates can and will depend on your advanced preparedness for a potential incident.

Waiting until an incident occurs to begin automating your processes and developing an incident response plan is like putting on a seatbelt after an accident. The key is advanced preparation so as not to scramble at the eleventh hour to put out the fire. Truyo is the first step in automating your processes so that if, but more likely when, an incident occurs you can focus on other aspects and know that your DSAR requests are being automatically, accurately, and efficiently managed with our platform.

If you’d like to discuss Truyo, our partnership with Egnyte, or preview our platform, reach out to hello@truyo.com.

Citations

Automated Intelligence. (2021, February 24). Are you ready for a rise in Data Subject Access Requests this year? https://www.automated-intelligence.com/news-and-insights/articles/are-you-ready-for-a-rise-in-data-subject-access-requests-this-year/

BBC News. (2021, September 15). Call to eliminate “human error” causing Guernsey data breaches. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cne58lpnk92o

Brisco, K. (2021, July 27). Cost of a Data Breach: Behind the Numbers of a Cybersecurity Response Plan. Secureworks. https://www.secureworks.com/blog/data-breach-response-planning-cyber-threat-intelligence#:%7E:text=According%20to%20the%20Ponemon%20Institute’s,time%20high%20of%20%248.64%20million.