Privacy Impact Assessment in 2025

The process of identifying and evaluating potential privacy hazards related to handling personally identifiable information (PII) within a system or project is known as a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA). It guarantees adherence to rules, assesses hazards, and suggests ways to reduce them. In essence, it’s a proactive strategy for safeguarding personal privacy by examining the ways in which personal information is gathered, utilized, shared, and protected.

What is Privacy Impact Assessment?

Privacy Impact Assessment is an analysis method of how the personal identifiable information is handles in an organization, how PII is collected, used, retained, deleted.

Complete a PIA for each program, system, technology, or rulemaking involving personally identifiable information. Personally identifiable information refers to any information in a program, system, online collection, or technology that can be used to directly or indirectly infer an individual’s identity, including linked or linkable information. A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is a process that identifies and evaluates potential privacy risks associated with the use of personally identifiable information (PII) within a system or project. It maintains regulatory compliance, assesses risks, and makes recommendations for risk reduction methods. Essentially, it is a proactive strategy to preserving individuals’ privacy by examining how personal data is acquired, used, shared, and safeguarded.

 

 

What is the Purpose of a Privacy Impact Assessment?

PIA – privacy Impact Assessment helps the organization to identify the risks related to PII and also helps the organization to communicate the efficiency it has to handle risks related to the Personal identifiable information.

How to conduct Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)?

The conduction of PIA can be conducted using the following steps:

1. Define Scope and Objectives

An organization has to initiate privacy impact assessment by describing the scope and objectives of the data process, an organization can choose parts of its processing or data utilization process and initiate PIA due to its efficiency in recognizing the risks in PII.

2. Assemble The PIA team

Performing privacy impact assessment is not a individual job it depends on multiple factor wherein various departmental process owners or individuals have to join hands in performing PIA. It is important for us to communicate our objectives and try to bring the expertise that the team members will have as they are the right choice to provide more insights into the risks and associated processing challenges.

3. Mapping data collection, processing and sharing.

The assembled PIA team has 2 map the various interlinking activities that the organisation performs wherein we begin with the collection of data and end with sharing or storage of data, this process involves development of detailed process flow that documents every step of data’s journey inside the organisation.

The organisation shall ensure internal and external data sharing practises are captured during the mapping ask potential vulnerabilities and compliance issue may arise due to transfer of data.

4. Identification and classification of data.

An organisation requires multiple types of data origins in order to conduct a successful business activity. It is crucial to identify the correct data type and also classify it based on the type of risk that is associated with data. And simple example would be financial data and healthcare data are having stricter regulation than the general data that could be an individual’s name, gender or age.

5. Identifying Privacy Risks

Once the identification and classification of the data is initiated by the privacy impact assessment team, analysing the related risks to such data is very crucial, like higher risk is associated with unauthorised access, data breaches or noncompliance to the PDPL requirements.

6. Conduct controls analysis

upon identification of risk and classification of the risk based on the potential consequences that can happen due to undesired effects it is essential for the company to determine the existing controls that exists too protect the risk to turn into reality, this also provides us with a gap assessment on how we are currently handling the risks in our organisation which provides the experts with clear actions that needs to be taken in order to overcome the risks involved in the handling of private data.

7. Development of mitigation measures

the experts are responsible to provide mitigation measures to counter the identified risks and implement actions in the data processing activity such that the risks can be completely eliminated or minimised to acceptable limits and do not compromise on achieving any compliance requirements of the law.

8. Documenting PIA Findings

The PIA team is responsible in generation of privacy impact assessment report that cumulatively describes all the efforts and analysis that has been conducted and implemented in the current practises such that it can be continuously reviewed an understood by the team members while processing data.

The report holds a very crucial part in the process of privacy impact assessment as this provides the organisation current status of measures that are taken to control any risk related to personal identifiable information (PII).

Benefits of Privacy Impact Assessment:

1. Compliance achievement: it helps the organisation to comply with all the local and international regulations that are related to handling of private information related to its end user or customers.
2. GDPR compliance: it is a crucial part when implementing GDPR in any organisation that achievement of PIA is evidenced and demonstrated by the organisation does helping them to avoid reputational loss and financial penalties.
3. Trust: the privacy impact assessment provides your customers with a trust that is needed in order to build business relationships as it provides information to them about how carefully you processed their data.
4. Informed team: this helps to provide additional competence and awareness to your employees and also encourages their participation in compliance achievement.
5. Cost saving: by implementing and conducting PIA it diminishes the chances of the organisation to face any legal and regulatory issues and facing penalties due to non compliance thus saving any unwanted expenses.

CertBureau – Privacy Impact Assessment in 2025

CertBureau Being an industry expert in providing information security solutions to many organisations has a very robust and advanced method of handling privacy impact assessment assignments and provide cost effective and simple solutions to organisations in conducting PIA.

Dedicated expert: CB assigns A dedicated expert who would be assisting the organisation in achieving the results aspirate objectives and scope during PIA.

Pre assessment checklist: CertBureau provides a pre assessment checklist to organisations that can help them comply to the requirements in an easier way and help them understand the support that we provide during the consultation and support.

Lower costs: at CertBureau we use various GRC tools and predefined documentation that helps the organisation to decrease the costs involved in engaging with third party for assessment.

International recognition: CertBureau is well known and has multiple branches across the world with associates from every continent which helps them to reach out faster and better, engaging with CertBureau would provide the organisation with international recognition and experience of working with approved service providers