What is the most effective way to prioritize data privacy risks?

1 Assess the impact

The first step is to assess the potential impact of each data privacy risk on your organization and the individuals whose data you handle. Impact can be measured in terms of financial, reputational, legal, operational, or social harm. For example, a data breach that exposes sensitive personal information could result in fines, lawsuits, loss of trust, customer churn, or identity theft. To quantify the impact, you can use a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high) or assign monetary values based on historical or estimated data.

3 Plot the matrix

The third step is to plot each data privacy risk on a matrix that has impact on the vertical axis and likelihood on the horizontal axis. This will help you visualize the relative priority of each risk and group them into four categories: high, medium, low, or negligible. For example, a data privacy risk that has a high impact and a high likelihood is a high priority risk that requires immediate attention and mitigation. A data privacy risk that has a low impact and a low likelihood is a negligible risk that can be ignored or deferred.

4 Apply the criteria

The fourth step is to apply some criteria to refine your prioritization and make it more consistent and objective. Criteria can be based on your organization's goals, values, policies, standards, regulations, or best practices. For example, you can prioritize data privacy risks that affect a large number of individuals, that involve sensitive or special categories of data, that violate legal or contractual obligations, or that align with your data privacy strategy and governance. You can also use criteria to assign weights or scores to each risk or category to further differentiate them.

5 Review the results

The fifth step is to review the results of your prioritization and validate them with relevant stakeholders, such as data owners, data protection officers, senior management, or external auditors. You should also document your prioritization process and criteria, as well as the rationale and evidence for each risk assessment. This will help you communicate your priorities, justify your decisions, and demonstrate your compliance with data privacy laws and principles.

6 Update regularly

The final step is to update your prioritization regularly and monitor the changes in the data privacy risk environment. Data privacy risks are not static, but dynamic and evolving. They can be affected by internal or external factors, such as new data collection or processing activities, new technologies or tools, new threats or vulnerabilities, new laws or regulations, or new customer or stakeholder expectations. You should review your prioritization at least annually or whenever there is a significant change in your data privacy risk profile.