A Guide to GDPR Audit and Compliance for Your Website

8 min read 0 Responses
Khaled Khan 2 years ago

Despite the fact that the General Data Protection Regulation Audit (GDPR Audit) is the world’s strictest privacy and security law, few firms fully comply with its statutes.

Businesses that do not comply may face fines of up to £18 million, or 4% of their annual worldwide revenues (whichever is higher). But although it is so critical for businesses to comply with it, there are many that do not.

Partly because they are unaware of the nitty gritties of GDPR audit and compliance.

This post explains the GDPR’s requirements and includes a checklist to assist enterprises in remaining compliant.

So, let’s start with the basics.

What is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

The GDPR is the result of the European Union’s bold data privacy reform. On May 25, 2018, rigorous privacy regulations went into force. This cybersecurity framework intends to protect all European Union citizens’ personal data.

The GDPR brings the European Convention on Human Rights from 1950 up to date for the digital age. Everyone has the right to respect private family life, according to Article 8 of the convention.

The distinctions between public and private life were clear and distinct in the analogue period that gave birth to the convention. They’re hazy and confusing today. Customers would never be able to trust that their private data, and thus their private lives, are being respected without a clear and enforced standard like the GDPR.

What is Considered Personal Data Under the EU GDPR?

Personal data is defined as any information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person, according to Article 4 of the GDPR. In other words, personal data is any information about a live person’s identity.

This includes not just direct ties, such as financial information and addresses, but also indirect links, such as assessments of a person’s behaviour patterns or his or her browsing history.

Personal data can be in any format, including photographs, video, audio, numbers, and words, according to the definition.

Because inaccurate information on data subjects is linked to an identity, it is still deemed personal data. If the information is linked to a fake entity, however, it is not considered personal information.

Who Does the GDPR Audit Apply to?

The GDPR affects any firm that sells goods or services to EU citizens, even those who are not based in the EU. If you run an internet business, you never know whether the people with whom you transact are from the EU. All internet businesses should at the very least be GDPR compliant as a precaution.

Personal information is divided into two categories: those who control the information and those who process it.

Data Controllers for GDPR Audit

Any individual, governmental authority, agency, or other body that determines the purpose and means of processing personal data is referred to as a controller under the GDPR. Controllers are in charge of deciding how personal information is used.

A computerised screen in the waiting area at a music school, for example, informs parents when each teacher is ready. On the screen, each child’s name and the room number of their music lesson are displayed.

Because it selects how the notification system should process all of the data, the music school is classified as the “controller” of personal data.

Data Processors

Data Processors are every individual, public authority, agency, or other body that processes personal data on behalf of a controller. Because they are following the data processing regulations stated by a controller, processors do not make decisions regarding how personal data is processed.

For an upcoming email campaign, a software company, for example, hires a marketer. All leads’ names and email addresses are given to the marketer so that customised emails can be sent to each one.

Because it chooses how the data should be treated, the software company is classified as the controller of personal data. Because they are carrying out the software company’s data processing instructions, the marketer is designated as a “processor.”

Even if they are merely executing the controller’s instructions, processes are expected to be GDPR compliant. This is due to the fact that they are in charge of personal information.

Why is GDPR Audit Important?

GDPR compliance is difficult legislation to comply with. However, once compliance is established, businesses must conduct an internal GDPR audit on a regular basis to assess their level of compliance. Not only will the audit assist discover and closing holes, but the documentation of these audits will be crucial in the event of a breach since it will show the organization’s compliance efforts.

An audit may also help to mitigate the severity of the penalty imposed on them. Furthermore, the audit process ensures that the organization’s privacy and compliance programme is held accountable and constantly monitored. Because compliance is a continuous activity, the programme must be reviewed and analysed on a regular basis to ensure that firms remain compliant.

GDPR audits will ensure that systems are in place and that firms are doing everything possible to comply with the GDPR’s consumer rights.

What are the Penalties of GDPR Audit?

Companies that violate the GDPR Regulations face stiff penalties of up to €20 million or 2% to 4% of the organization’s annual revenue, whichever is greater. Multiple breaches could result in hefty fines of up to €40 million for the offending corporation.

How to Apply GDPR Bot Features on Your Website

1. Cookie Audit & Automated Monitoring

Allow your website to be crawled automatically, with each page examined for cookies separately. The GDPR Bot will recognise cookies from both your own domain and third-party websites.

We also send you an email with a monthly cookie audit report. Which is available for evaluation on your website’s cookie policy page and in the privacy preference popup.

The GDPR Bot is unique in that it intelligently…

  1. Find pages on your website that are related.
  2. They are grouped together.
  3. In addition, he scans a few random samples.

It stops the crawler from becoming overburdened when scanning your site. Yes, the GDPR Bot not only saves you time but also gets the work done more quickly.

2. Cookie Consent Popups

A cookie permission box/popup on your website is an important step to take. It aids in the acquisition of user consent for the use of cookies on a website. It’s also the first thing your new visitors see when they come to your site.

GDPR Bot creates a GDPR consent popup for your website that you can customize. You can pick from four different styles and match the popup to the colour scheme of your company.

Adding a permission box to your website is as simple as clicking a few buttons. Not only that, but the popup also allows the user to select their privacy choices and be informed about the website’s cookie usage.

3. Privacy Policy Generator

The law mandates that you have a Privacy Policy in place that ensures that your data collection and use is transparent. This includes information on your data collection techniques, cookie usage, and data privacy policies that govern when and how user data can be shared. Make sure it contains information about any plugins that collect data.

The GDPR Bot has a simple Privacy Policy wizard that will assist you in quickly creating your privacy policy. It allows you to easily choose the proper settings for your privacy policy without the legal jargon.

A fork of the Legalmattic Open Source Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy document is used as a template by the GDPR Bot. The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike International licence governs the distribution of the Legal Matic Privacy policy. Automattic (the company behind WordPress) has done an excellent job of creating legally sound and transparent papers. The nicest aspect is that it’s free for everyone to use.

4. Auto-Generated Cookie Policy

GDPR also necessitates the implementation of a Cookie Policy. The different cookies used on your website form, your own domain, and any third-party domains must be explicitly stated in the cookie policy (with their age & purpose).

When your website is updated with a new plugin or integration that begins to use cookies, The GDPR Bot discovers it automatically in the next monthly scan. Then it refreshes your cookie policy with the most recent cookie report.

5. Preemptive Cookie Blocking

To comply with the ePPR rule, you must disable all cookies on your site until the user specifies his privacy choices. Allowing just those cookies to be downloaded that the user has consented to.

You can give your visitors complete control over cookie usage on your website by using our GDPR Bot. Our robust Cookie Control API allows us to do this.

With Google Tag Manager, the API provides an easy-to-use interface for managing cookies with just a few clicks. Not only that, but we also provide a one-time installation service for GDPR Bot and GTM to set up preemptive cookie blocking on your website.

6. User Rights – Request Forms

The law gives the user control over his or her personal data. The following are some of the rights: the right to view their data, The right to be forgotten is a legal concept that refers to the right to be forgotten. Data portability is a legal right.

The User Rights Forms, which are included with the GDPR Bot, are a part of the plugin. Before submitting a request, the user can access the form directly from the privacy preference popup. It saves time and produces better outcomes.

7. Support 100+ Languages

With pre-defined language text, the GDPR Audit Bot supports over 100 languages. It also includes an easy-to-use editor for customising the language text.

The GDPR Bot detects the visitor’s language and changes the cookie consent popup language accordingly.

Why should we prefer GDPR Bot?

In today’s world, staying completely in compliance with GDPR legislation is a must. As a result, every time you make changes to your website, you’ll have to manually update it.

You’d have to keep up with the modifications even if you only added another third-party widget or a simple new form. After that, make them visible to your users. This quickly becomes a tedious and repeated process that cuts into your productive time. Which you could have put toward more vital things, like expanding your business.

The GDPR Bot is intended to provide you with a stress-free and hands-free experience. Month after month, we execute automated checks on your website to update/apply the newest updates to the cookies on your site. In addition, our plugin will add form consent to any new forms you build on your website.

Without you having to do anything, your cookie policy and privacy policy are automatically updated with the most recent revisions.

Conclusion

We strongly advise enterprises to enlist the assistance of GDPR Bot in order to ensure a seamless GDPR Audit procedure. While there is always a temptation and a desire to fix or address concerns internally, having an outsider’s perspective is necessary to guarantee that the audit conducted is complete.


About Khaled Khan

Khaled Khan is a WordPress developer who has been working in the industry for over six years now. He's currently employed as a Senior Engineer at Sizmic Labs, where he helps build a WordPress community of both developers and site owners. When Khaled isn't busy with work you can find him watching survival shows (the crazier ones are always better) cooking up something new in his kitchen -- or out exploring new places to eat in and around Hyderabad.

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