The European Union’s (EU’s) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the world's most robust data privacy laws. The regulation requires all organizations that do business in the EU or collect data from EU residents to comply with various information security policies and meet industry standards for protecting sensitive data and preventing data breaches.
To achieve GDPR compliance, an entity must demonstrate compliance across the entirety of its operations, including the activities of its third-party vendors. Entities that partner with several service providers for critical business operations must develop a comprehensive GDPR security questionnaire to appraise a vendor’s security measures and processing activities during due diligence and throughout the vendor lifecycle.
By developing a comprehensive GDPR vendor security questionnaire, organizations can streamline portions of the vendor onboarding process and ensure they protect their business from compliance and reputational risks.
Learn more about how UpGuard helps organizations with third-party risk management>
Key Areas of the GDPR
The GDPR expects organizations to develop strategies to mitigate cybersecurity risks internally and across their vendor supply chain. While GDPR compliance requires organizations to meet the standards of various regulations, the framework can be summarized into four distinct pillars:
- Pillar 1: Risk Assessments - Evaluating the data privacy standards and data processing activities of all service providers with access to customer data.
- Pillar 2: Compliance Evidence Gathering - Documenting GDPR security control evidence, demonstrating regulatory compliance, and appointing a data protection officer (DPO).
- Pillar 3: Continuous Monitoring - For all forms of third-party security risks, with an emphasis on high-risk vendors that interact with personal data or participate in data collection
- Pillar 4: Audit Trail Capabilities - Mapping informational flow and data security protections across the vendor ecosystem.
Recommended Reading: Meeting the Third-Party Risk Requirements of the GDPR in 2023
Responsibility of the Controller
It’s important to note that GDPR Article 24: Responsibility of the Controller explicitly states that it is the data controller’s responsibility to ensure all third-party vendors comply with the regulatory standards of the GDPR. Organizations that partner with third-party vendors that do not meet the demands of the GDPR can incur significant fines.
Why Are Vendor Security Questionnaires Important?
Security questionnaires are vital for many reasons, including that they allow organizations to accurately appraise the security risks of a vendor before moving forward with the onboarding process or providing access to critical systems and infrastructure.
Organizations that partner with third-party vendors will inherit the security risks of those vendors. When a vendor is granted access to sensitive data and personal information about a data subject, reputational and compliance risks become more severe and prominent. If an organization fails to employ an effective third-party risk management (TPRM) program, it can be exposed to irreparable damages and consequences.
Recommended Reading: What is a Security Questionnaire?
Qualities of Comprehensive Security Questionnaires
Organizations can utilize security questionnaires to assess a variety of topics related to their third-party security posture, including information security, data center security, web application security, infrastructure security, information security policy, and more.
No matter what topic a security questionnaire covers, it should include the following characteristics to provide the highest level of support to the organization:
- Possess a foundation of industry standards
- Cover regulation-specific requirements
- Acknowledge organization-specific needs and questions
- Utilize automation when possible to streamline data entry and questionnaire delivery
Learn more about UpGuard’s library of comprehensive vendor security questionnaires>
General Questions to Ask Vendors About the GDPR
Here are questions your organization can use to build out its own GDPR security questionnaire and assess the status of your vendors. For ideas of more details to include in a vendor questionnaire, considerthese advanced GDPR compliance techniques.
1. Does your organization conduct business in Europe or the European Union (EU)?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
2. How aware is your organization of the GDPR?
- We are very aware, and we can demonstrate compliance
- Aware, and we are working on demonstrating compliance
- Aware, but we can’t demonstrate compliance
- We are not aware
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
3. Would you consider GDPR compliance a top priority for your organization?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
4. Does your organization handle the personal information of any EU residents?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
5. If yes, what types of data does your organization handle? [Check all that apply]
- Identification numbers
- Biometrics
- Financial information
- Healthcare information
- Other (specify below)
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
Questions to Ask Vendors About Pillar 1: Risk Assessments
1. What controls does your organization have in place to manage data privacy? [Check all that apply]
- Access Controls
- Encryption
- Multi-Factor Authentication
- Biometrics
- Other (specify below)
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
2. Is your organization familiar with the GDPR’s seven principles for processing data?
- Yes
- We are aware of a few [specify below]
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
3. Does your organization provide a privacy notice to all customers?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
4. Does your organization process all data lawfully, fairly, and transparently?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
5. Does your organization abide by the GDPR’s purpose limitations, minimization, accuracy, storage, and confidentiality requirements?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
Questions to Ask Vendors About Pillar 2: Compliance Evidence Gathering
1. How does your organization and security team document compliance with the GDPR?
- [Open text field for vendor response]
2. Has your organization appointed a data protection officer (DPO)?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
3. If yes, please provide contact information
- Employee Name: [ ]
- Employee Email: [ ]
- Employee Phone: [ ]
- Other relevant stakeholders: [ ]
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
Questions to Ask Vendors About Pillar 3: Continuous Monitoring
1. Does your organization have an active cybersecurity risk management program?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
2. Does your organization partner with third-party vendors?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
3. If yes, how does your organization monitor vendor risks and identify vulnerabilities?
- [Open text field for vendor response]
4. Does your organization prioritize vendor risk management?
- Yes
- Yes, but we could improve our system
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
6. If yes, what safeguards does your organization have in place?
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
Questions to Ask Vendors About Pillar 4: Audit Trail Capabilities
1. How does your organization track who currently has access to sensitive data and information?
- [Open text field for vendor response]
2. How does your organization track data modifications?
- [Open text field for vendor response]
3. Where does your organization log customer data requests?
- [Open text field for vendor response]
Additional Questions to Ask Vendors
- Does your organization comply with any other regulatory frameworks? [Check all that apply]
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
- ISO 27001
- NIST Privacy Framework
- Other (specify below
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
- Has your organization experienced a data breach in the last year?
- Yes
- No
- [Open text field for vendor comments]
- If yes, please explain what happened, what was identified as the root cause, and if any sensitive data was compromised.
- [Open text field for vendor response]
Streamline GDPR Vendor Questionnaires With UpGuard
UpGuard’s questionnaire library includes a comprehensive GDPR vendor questionnaire and other security questionnaires that meet relevant industry standards. Organizations looking to improve their vendor due diligence protocols and develop robust Third-Party Risk Management programs can use UpGuard’s library of questionnaires to identify and mitigate risks throughout the vendor lifecycle.
In addition to its comprehensive library of security questionnaires, UpGuard Vendor Risk also provides organizations access to several other powerful Cyber Vendor Risk Management tools.
Notable features and use cases of UpGuard Vendor Risk include:
- Vendor Security Ratings: Instantly understand your vendor’s security posture
- Vendor Risk Assessments: Reduce the time it takes to assess new and existing vendors
- Vendor Tiering: Classify vendors based on their level of inherent risk and your organization’s unique risk tolerance
- Compliance Reporting: Map vendor details against common compliance frameworks (NIST, ISO 27001, etc.)
- Vendor Data Leak Detection: Prevent data leakage due to third-party breaches
- 24/7 Continuous Vendor Monitoring: Receive real-time updates when your vendor’s security ratings change
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