In the digital age, where information flows freely across borders, safeguarding personal data has become a paramount concern. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) stands as a cornerstone in the European Union's (EU) efforts to fortify and streamline data protection measures for its citizens. Enforced by the European Commission, GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) aims to establish uniform standards for data protection across EU member states, ensuring greater transparency, accountability, and control over personal data.
GDPR introduces several pivotal changes to data protection regulations, marking a significant departure from its predecessors:
ServiceNow provides some out-of-the-box content but also integrates with the Unified Compliance Framework (UCF). UCF provides over 800 authority documents, including GDPR. A license to import the GDPR content from the UCF Common Controls Hub is required. ServiceNow GRC can then map the identified GDPR requirements directly into the application, with underlying citations and controls needed for compliance checks and continuous monitoring.
There are many organizational policies associated with the GDPR requirements - existing ones may need to be aligned while others are developed. Some policy examples include data protection, security, and code of conduct policies. ServiceNow GRC full policy lifecycle management includes drafting a policy according to requirements through review, approval, publishing (to a knowledge base), and retirement stages. A policy can include the GDPR requirements in the description, and it is designed to align with them.
The vendor compliance status on regulatory requirements is reported on the Policy and Compliance dashboard. The controls status is automatically updated, while issues are automatically created and assigned to the responsible party. Progress is tracked to remediation.
DPIAs are required to assess processing operations that result in a high risk to data subjects. Within ServiceNow GRC, data protection assessments can be aligned with data protection policies and underlying requirements. The internal Assessment Design can be used to create the assessments, which can then be scheduled. The compliance status is reported on the Policy and Compliance dashboard. The controls status is automatically updated, while issues are automatically created and assigned to the responsible party. Progress is tracked to remediation. Vendor/Third Party Risk assessments can be managed through the Vendor Risk Management application and the vendor portal.
GDPR requires organizations to evaluate and manage data protection risks appropriately. The Risk Management application supports a full risk management lifecycle process. Risk identification and compliance statistics can be made transparent, and a notification can be sent automatically or manually to a Supervisory Authority (SA) at the time of a breach with the associated risks. Data processing on the information layer with personal data can be implemented. Pseudonymizing and encryption functionalities from ServiceNow help address compliance requirements. Finally, ServiceNow GRC provides controls to check the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of systems and applications.
ServiceNow Policy & Compliance and Audit Workbench dashboards provide the ability to monitor the global level of compliance with the GDPR. Audits can be scheduled targeting the organization and its personal data-sensitive systems — tracking any corrective actions to a conclusion.
Data subjects have specific rights over the processing of personal data. You can utilize the ServiceNow Customer Service Management, Vendor Risk Management, and Service Portal to interact with data subjects (e.g., customers, staff, third parties, or contacts), as well as for content, PII amendments, policy announcements, guidelines, etc.
Protecting personal data or information requires the ability to attest to controls, assess risks, and perform audit assurance for the information assets and the systems supporting them. ServiceNow GRC is unique in that it's built on the Now platform, which includes a built-in Configuration Management Database (CMDB) to manage information assets and associate them with other Configuration Items (CIs). A few of the capabilities to fulfill personal data asset requirements are managing risks, continuous control monitoring, and data protection impact assessments on information assets as well as on business services or IT CIs.
If a breach has put personal data at risk, the Supervisory Authority must be notified within 72 hours with details and an outlined response to the breach. Security Incident Response works together with GRC and workflows in the platform to ensure the necessary information is available and communicated effectively.
Vendor Risk Management provides the means to help you appropriately assess your 3rd-parties to ensure they are implementing the appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect the personal data you make available to them. Vendor Risk uses the unique Vendor Portal to consolidate communication and facilitate collaboration.
The DPO is the individual in the organization responsible for ensuring compliance and immediately reporting breaches. ServiceNow Performance Analytics and the Service Portal offer the ability to create dashboards specific to your role and responsibility in a matter of minutes so that information like incidents by location, risk scores, and GDPR compliance is at your fingertips.
To effectively leverage ServiceNow for GDPR Compliance, IT admins should consider the following best practices:
The General Data Protection Regulation across the EU sets up a high standard for data protection, focusing on transparency, accountability, and individual rights. ServiceNow Governance, Risk, and Compliance solutions help organizations comply with GDPR by providing management capabilities in the form of policy management, risk evaluation, audit capabilities, and real-time compliance monitoring. IT administrators can provide better compliance by providing a clear definition of policies, implementation of access controls, regular audits, and awareness of changes in the regulation. Using ServiceNow GRC will help an organization adhere to the requirements of GDPR and foster a culture of data protection.
