Data Privacy as Career

What is Data Privacy ?

Data privacy defines who has access to data, while data protection provides tools and policies to actually restrict access to the data. 

Compliance regulations help ensure that user's privacy requests are carried out by companies, and companies are responsible to take measures to protect private user data.

Data privacy as Career

There’s extensive opportunity for someone seeking a data privacy career. One interesting aspect of a career in data privacy is the various paths professionals can take as they advance. 

Data privacy specialists

• Often manage day-to-day compliance tasks. 
• Includes privacy assessment documentation like Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) required by GDPR.

Data privacy managers

• May work to map organizational data flows. 
• Enhance data privacy training and awareness across an organization’s business units and employees. 
• Monitor and flag potential privacy risks and provide appropriate resolution.

Data privacy analysts 

• Building solutions and automated controls that support the organization’s privacy infrastructure for the more technically inclined.

Today, too many companies focus on applying controls at one point in the data lifecycle. They may take particular care when gathering data but not take the same level of care in the middle stages when data is used. “You have to look at each step within the lifecycle of data from the time it’s created, used, shared, archived and destroyed and apply the appropriate controls throughout each of those points of the lifecycle.” 

Data privacy skills a part of other tech jobs

As concern over the protection of data increases, technologists, in general, will also find data privacy skills beneficial — and likely lucrative. Analytics company Burning Glass provides real-time data on in-demand skills. Job postings requesting data privacy knowledge increased for cybersecurity engineers, technology consultants, network engineers, computer systems engineers, business management analysts and others.

    Cybersecurity and data privacy are intricately linked, and the rationale behind encouraging data privacy skills comes directly out of the day-to-day. For example, when data crosses one of your data loss prevention technologies when you don’t want it to, it’s problematic from a security perspective, explains Gumbs. If that data went to a legitimate third-party, but a user has requested you no longer share their data with third parties, you now have a privacy violation.

    Evolving privacy laws are also driving the need for data privacy skills among cybersecurity professionals. In a recent webinar on the topic, privacy is shaping the future of cybersecurity careers: Are we ready? 

    Byron Johnson, channel sales manager at the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), said, “you may not need to be privacy policy experts, but any cybersecurity or information security professional absolutely should expect privacy to touch their job requirements meaningfully.”

Landing a data privacy job

    Various certifications will help demonstrate data privacy know-how for those seeking a career in data privacy or other technologists looking to round out their skills. Those with a focus on privacy include:

CIPP/US and CIPP/E (Certified Information Privacy Professional) to understand the law and regulation based in the U.S. and Europe; the “what” of data protection in the U.S. and abroad.

CIPM (Certified Information Privacy Manager) for implementing privacy in an organization and the “how” of privacy from a management perspective.

CIPT (Certified Information Privacy Technologist) for implementing privacy in applications and systems and the “how” of privacy from a technology perspective.

CDPSE (Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer) for IT professionals who work with technology and then store, collect and transports personal information.

CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) certification for a hands-on understanding of security principles. 

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