In an effort to preserve people’s data privacy, 137 of the world’s 194 nations have already passed data protection and privacy laws. With thousands of new positions, rising incomes, and expanding compliance requirements globally, data privacy is becoming a more popular career choice.
There are numerous opportunities for someone interested in a career in data privacy. There is a dearth of certified data privacy professions as well as data protection professionals. Currently, LinkedIn has approximately 169,000 “data privacy jobs” available. On Glassdoor, more than 105,000 job openings are posted. The different career paths that data privacy specialists can choose from as they grow is an intriguing part of the field.
And one such career path is to become a DPO (Data Protection Officer).
What is a DPO?
For many businesses, the data protection officer (DPO) job is still relatively new. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU) substantially establishes the duties, responsibilities, and reporting structure of a DPO (GDPR). The GDPR was approved on April 14, 2016, and it went into effect on May 25, 2018. It is significant to remember that, in addition to EU members, any business, regardless of location, that promotes goods or services to EU people is subject to the rule.
The application of data privacy and protection policies inside a company is overseen by the data protection officer. They are responsible for fostering a data protection culture across the organization. They guarantee compliance across the entire company. The idea of a professional DPO job has been around in many privacy-conscious firms for some time, but the adoption of GDPR gave it international visibility.
DPO’s responsibilities
In collaboration with the data protection authority, the DPO must make sure that the data protection laws are followed (for the EU institutions and bodies, this is the EDPS).
- Ensure that controllers and data subjects are educated about their data protection rights, obligations, and responsibilities and increase awareness about them within EU institutions and organizations.
- Provide the institution with recommendations and assistance regarding how to interpret or apply the data protection laws.
- Establish a register of the institution’s processing operations and alert the EDPS to any that pose particular concerns (so-called prior checks).
- Ensure that her institution complies with data privacy laws and assist it in holding itself accountable in this regard.
- Respond to inquiries or grievances when the institution, the controller, another person, or herself makes a request.
- Work together with EDPS (responding to his requests about investigations, complaint handling, inspections conducted by the EDPS, etc.).
- Call the institution’s attention to any violations of the relevant data protection regulations.
Getting started as a DPO
To become a data protection officer, you need both education and experience. The following is an example of an often-sought mix of training, work history, career path, and professional certifications:
- Education: A BA or BS in computer science, information security, or a related discipline alternatively, a J.D. or bachelor’s degree or the equivalent professional experience in a similar subject such as privacy, compliance, information security, auditing, etc.
- Career path: After 10+ years of expertise in the various privacy fields, promotion to DPO can be legitimately sought after (e.g., privacy program and policy, privacy law, information governance, incident response, information security, training, and awareness, etc.).
- Professional certifications: The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) may require that you hold one or more of their certificates, including CIPP/E, CIPP/US, and/or CIPM.
- Work experience: Five or more years in risk management jobs with a focus on privacy and/or compliance are desirable. As long as the candidate can establish relevance to this information security-based function, attention will frequently be given to other relevant subjects (such as finance, business administration, information technology, etc.).
Future prospects for DPO
Privacy rights and data protection are rapidly expanding fields. The demand for data protection officers is high. There is frequently a lack of clear direction when creating hiring standards for a new DPO because this is a new function for many firms. A candidate who can advise a business on what is required, what the function should entail, and even the value the DPO can offer to the firm is highly sought after as a result.
Every sign point to a major increase in demand for DPOs in the near future.
How Tsaaro can help?
One of the key steps in your journey to become a DPO is getting your basics of privacy right! For the same, we at Tsaaro Academy have come forward with the C-DPO Foundations, our special introductory DPO Foundation certificate course.
Most online courses on data privacy were not developed with the most recent industry trends in mind. Same is the case with most of the data protection courses online. With our C-DPO Foundations course, we’ve made an effort to address this problem by giving students the information and abilities they need to land a position at the entry level in the data privacy industry as well as to lay foundations for them to also become DPO in the future.
The Data Protection Fundamentals Course will give you the knowledge and abilities needed to obtain an entry-level position in the data privacy industry, whether you are someone who is wishing to enter the data protection area or switching to it.
The course content includes an introduction to privacy by design, personal data, and special categories of personal data, as well as information on the roles of data controllers and processors and the fundamentals of a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) and how to conduct one in an organization. Additionally, the training covers data breach detection, notification, and prevention strategies.
Understanding the fundamental privacy principles and requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, as well as understanding the concepts, approaches, methods, and techniques to effectively participate in the implementation process of a compliance framework with regard to the protection of personal data, are among the course’s objectives. Another objective of the C-DPO Foundations course is to help students comprehend the duties, roles, and responsibilities of the Data Protection Officer.
This course can become your stepping stone towards preparing for professional certifications such as CIPP/E, CIPP/US, and/or CIPM if you aim to become a DPO.
