How to Ensure GDPR Compliance

To ensure the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance of your SaaS platform and mitigate the risk of hefty fines, follow the guidelines below. Adhering to the GDPR is a must for safeguarding user privacy and maintaining customer trust.

This guide provides an overview of essential steps, including understanding key GDPR concepts and implementing data protection measures, which may contribute to building a privacy-conscious SaaS platform. 

To help you maintain focus, we’re providing a checklist below for your convenience.

Start at the beginning, and dive into the official GDPR text. Yes, it may appear a bit dry, but look at key terms such as “personal data” (information relevant to an identifiable person), “processing” (any action performed on personal data), and “data subject” (the individual the data is about).

The GDPR is built on seven core principles. 

• Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: You must have a legal reason for processing data, be clear with customers about your practices, and avoid anything even slightly deceptive.
• Purpose limitation: Data is to be used and collected for legitimate, specific and explicit reasons and not to be saved for use in the future.
• Data minimization: Collect only the necessary information needed.
• Accuracy: Stay up to date – erroneous info can be damaging. 
• Storage limitation: It’s not necessary to keep data so have a clear retention policy in place.
• Integrity and confidentiality (security): Use encryption and always keep data secure from loss, damage and unauthorized access.
• Accountability: Be responsible for compliance, document your processes and meet all GDPR requirements.

Consider speaking with a professional knowledgeable in data protection law, investigate online courses or webinars on the subject, or browse through our SaaS compliance guide.

At the core of GPDR compliance is a comprehensive data audit. So make it your goal to understand your data, where its coming from and going and how its being used. Use software or mapping tools to understand and direct your data flows. Create a data audit checklist:

• What personal data are we collecting? (Names, email addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, etc.)
• How is this data collected? (Directly from users, through third-party integrations, etc.)
• Where is our data stored? (On-premises servers, cloud storage, etc.)
• Who has access to this data? (Employees, contractors, third-party vendors, etc.)
• How is our data used? (Marketing, analytics, personalization, etc.)
• How long are we keeping our data? (Do we have a data retention policy?)
• Do we have a legitimate reason for processing each type of data? (Consent, contract, legitimate interest, etc.)

Make privacy a priority in your platform. Minimize data collection, use strong security measures and be transparent with users about their data usage.

Consider the following:

Data Minimization:

• Challenge assumptions: Consider everything you collect. Can you get by with less info? Do you really need it?
• Collect in stages: Collect what is needed as you go. For instance, you can require only email address first and then ask for more specifics later if necessary.
• Provide alternatives: Provide options to users that will limit your data collection. As an example, use guest checkout or allow customers to opt out of any data sharing features.

Purpose Limitation:

• Clear purpose statements: Be clear about the purpose of your data collection in your privacy and consent communication.Don’t use broad or vague language, focus on using language that’s clear, concise, and gets right to the point.
• Restrict internal access: Access should be limited to employees who absolutely need it for their job.
• Data deletion: Create a protocol for removing any data that is unnecessary to keep after being used for its intended purpose.

Transparency:

• Granular consent: Make it possible for users to opt in or out of certain features, and give them some control over the data they share.
• Plain language privacy notice: Keep your privacy policy friendly and easy to understand, using everyday language instead of legal jargon.
• Layered notices: Be concise in your summaries of all notices to users on key info, and provide links to further details for those who wish to read deeper explanations.

Pseudonymization/Anonymization: Implement ways to de-identify personal data where possible. For example, Replace identifying information with pseudonyms (e.g., User123) to prevent linking the data to individuals. Consider removing identifiers altogether so data cannot be linked to individuals.

Security:

• Access Controls: Be selective in who has access to view, modify, or delete personal data.
• Data Breach Response Plan: Put processes in place to detect, contain, and urgently respond to data breaches.
• Regular Audits: Schedule audits and assessments on security proactively to find and fix any potential issues with security.
• Encryption: Encrypt data at rest and in transit using strong algorithms.

Use simple and clear consent language that indicates how user data will be used. Be transparent that consent is given, informed, specific and taken back at any time. 

• Consent requests should be clear and concise so users understand what they are agreeing to.
• Consent has a specific purpose, and is not an overall agreement.
• Consent must be a clear “yes.” 
• Consent is an option, and never a coerced requirement.
• Users can easily withdraw consent at any time.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) outlines certain rights that data subjects (individuals) have regarding their personal information. Your SaaS business and platform must accommodate these rights. 

• The Right of Access: Know that you must confirm users requests about whether you are processing their data and provide a copy of it.
• The Right to Rectification: You must take action when individuals request that their personal data be corrected.
• The Right to Restriction of Processing: A request to limit the processing of their data in certain situations , such as when they contest the accuracy, should be honored
• The Right to Object: Individuals can object to being used for direct marketing, as one example of the type of processing they can request to deny.
• The Right to Erasure (“Right to be Forgotten”): When users request their personal data be deleted, in some situations such when the data is no longer necessary, they have the right to have this granted. 
• The Right to Data Portability: Individuals can ask for a copy of their data in a structured, machine-readable format and have the right to transmit that data to another controller.

DSARs (Data Subject Access Requests) require clear, documented procedures including who is responsible, how requests are verified and what info is provided.

Staff should be educated and prepared to handle DSARs in accordance with the GDPR and respond within one month of receipt. For complex cases, up to three months is acceptable. To streamline this, consider using a DSAR management tool.

Complying with data subject rights is also about creating trust with users and showing a commitment to privacy.

If your SaaS platform processes large amounts of personal data or engages in activities considered high risk, it’s worth considering designating a DPO. Though it’s not necessary, having a Data Protection Officer is recommended.

The key responsibilities of a DPO:

• Inform the company about their data protection obligations.
• Be the contact for the supervisory authority and data subjects.
• Cooperate with the supervisory authority.
• Be the SME (Subject Matter Expert)  on Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs).
• Keep compliant with the GDPR and other data protection laws.

A data breach notification plan should be in place. In the case a breach does occur, appropriate authorities must be notified within 72 hours and affected individuals without delay when it is a risk to their rights and freedoms. 

Data Breach Response Plan:

• Incident Identification: Create criteria to identify a data breach. Be clear about which incidents will trigger your response plan.
• Containment: Procedures to prevent any further damage and to contain the breach should be in place, such as changing passwords, patching vulnerabilities and isolating systems.
• Assessment: Assess the severity of the breach and determine what data was compromised. Determine the number of individuals involved and assess any potential risks this poses to their rights.
• Notification: If a data breach happens and it could put people’s rights at risk, let the authorities know within 72 hours.  Inform affected individuals if the breach poses a high risk to their rights and freedoms and provide them with clear and concise information about the breach and steps they can take to protect themselves. It’s always better to be safe and keep them in the loop.
• Investigation and Remediation: After thoroughly investigating, understand the root cause and put into place the proper measures to prevent future breaches.