December 19, 2023

How to make your website GDPR compliant

GDPR, or the General Data Protection Regulation, is a data privacy law that many businesses around the world need to comply with. If you’re operating a business or managing a website, it’s important to know how the law applies to you and your website’s data collection processes. In this blog post, we’ll answer some fundamental questions about GDPR and provide guidance on how to get your website GDPR compliant.

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What is GDPR and how does it impact websites?

GDPR is a law created by the European Union to protect the private data of EU residents. This law lists practices organizations must follow to protect those rights — such as transparent communication about data collection processes and giving users the ability to delete their data.

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GDPR compliance applies to any organization that collects or may collect data from EU residents — which includes many of the businesses that operate around the world. While GDPR covers a wide range of privacy rights, many of these requirements focus on the data collection processes that happen on an organization’s website.

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Why is GDPR compliance important for your website?

If your website requires GDPR compliance, you’re legally obligated to follow all the requirements of the law. If your website is not GDPR compliant, you could be subject to heavy fines of up to €20 million or 4% of your global revenue, whichever is higher.

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In addition to avoiding these hefty fines, there are other benefits to GDPR compliance:

Expanding into new regions: If you’re looking to expand your business into the global market and specifically into Europe, your website and business will need to be GDPR compliant. By having a GDPR-compliant website, you’re able to expand your business to the European market.
Gaining and keeping trust: It’s important to build trust with customers and prospects. A GDPR-compliant website protects their data and respects their rights, which helps you build and maintain trust.
Strengthening your data security: Part of GDPR compliance is putting security measures in place to protect your customer data from unauthorized access. Implementing these measures will improve your organization’s data security in addition to protecting your customer’s data privacy rights.
Opening additional opportunities: Many partners and vendors may require your organization to be GDPR compliant before they’re able to do business with you. By being GDPR compliant, you’re open to new business opportunities that require compliance with this law.

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Does my website need to be GDPR compliant?

If your website collects or may collect data from EU residents, you must be GDPR compliant. To understand if this law applies to your business, ask yourself the following questions:

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Does your website collect data from any of its users?
Is your website accessible to EU residents?

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If the answer to either of these questions is yes, you must be GDPR compliant.

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How to make your website GDPR compliant‍

Follow these eight steps to make sure your website is compliant with GDPR:

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1. Assess GDPR compliance‍ status

If you’re legally required to be GDPR compliant, the first step is to assess how your website currently stacks up against the compliance requirements to understand which you meet and which ones you don't yet meet.

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Do this by conducting a GDPR assessment. The most efficient way to do this is with compliance software that scans your security controls, your website, and its operations against the GDPR requirements. This tool will help you identify areas of non-compliance to see where you need to make changes to your website and its security measures.‍

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2. Add requests for permission where necessary

GDPR requires that websites switch from implied consent to specified consent. Implied consent is the idea that users implicitly agree to an organization’s data collection processes simply by being on the business’ website. Specified consent occurs when users explicitly opt-in to data collection processes. With GDPR, users must provide specified consent to your data collection processes.

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If you’re using cookies or gathering any additional data that users don’t purposefully provide, you need to let them know of this process and give them a way to opt-out as soon as they get to your site. If you’re using any of this data from web sources, such as surveys or forms, you must gain consent before adding them to a mailing list.

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3. Add data collection information to your site

GDPR also gives users the right to know what’s being done with their data. This means your business must disclose:

What data you’re collecting
How you’re using this data
How you’re processing the data
Who can access this data
Who you’re sharing the data with

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You can include this information in the terms of service or a privacy policy page or you can create a new page or document with these details somewhere on your site.

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4. Investigate any third-party apps, plug-ins, or tools

Many websites use third-party components in some way — such as analytics or tracking tools, plug-ins to implement certain features and designs, or a third-party chat service. As part of your GDPR compliance, you must ensure the tools you’re using to collect, process, or store data are also GDPR compliant.

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5. Create a way to get in touch

GDPR guarantees users certain rights regarding their data, such as the right to request all the data you have about them and the right to request that you delete all of their data. Users need to be able to contact your organization to act on their rights. Within your GDPR policy, include the contact information of your data officer so users know who to reach out to with these requests.

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6. Update your data security

To be GDPR compliant, you need to protect the user data you collect or process from unauthorized access and misuse. As part of your compliance, implement data security measures that manage access. This can include tools and precautions like:

Access controls
Specific employee IDs
Anti-virus software
Firewalls

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7. Develop policies for GDPR compliance‍

GDPR guarantees that users have certain data privacy rights, which will require you to manage and act on the requests of your users. These include:

Requests to see all the data you have about them
Requests to delete all of their data from your servers
Requests to correct their data

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To be compliant, you need a GDPR policy that outlines your protocols and processes for addressing these requests. You also need policies regarding potential data breaches, like protocols for addressing a breach and notifying users that their data was compromised.

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8. Confirm and document your GDPR compliance‍

If you’ve followed the steps above and addressed all of your compliance gaps, your website should now be GDPR compliant. Now you need to confirm and document your GDPR compliance.

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Use a compliance automation tool to scan your website and ensure it is GDPR compliant. This thoroughly documents your compliance with each GDPR requirement to ensure that you’re adequately protecting your users’ data and protecting your business from the consequences of non-compliance.

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Additional tips for maintaining GDPR website compliance

Here are some tips for maintaining your GDPR website compliance:

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Assign a data protection officer (DPO)

When a company falls out of compliance with GDPR or another standard, it’s often because you made changes to your system or a tool you use made changes. You can make monitoring this easier by designating a data protection officer (DPO).

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Your DPO is the person in your organization who is in charge of protecting your user’s data. With a project lead, your compliance work will be more unified and organized so that everything is properly monitored and delegated.

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Use HTTPS for data encryption

Encrypting your web traffic can strengthen your data protection as part of your GDPR compliance. You can do this by converting your website from HTTP to HTTPS, an encrypted and trusted protocol.

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Create a data breach response plan

While GDPR includes provisions to help you lower your risk of a data breach, these controls can’t always prevent them entirely. You need a response plan in the event of a data breach that includes a way to notify users who may have been impacted by the data breach.

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Maintain GDPR compliance with automation

The most reliable and effective way to maintain GDPR compliance is to use compliance automation. These tools provide continuous monitoring of your systems and notify you if an area of your website or infrastructure has fallen out of compliance so you can mitigate them quickly.

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Get GDPR compliant faster with Vanta

Your website is a core part of your GDPR compliance and the steps above will help you protect the rights of your users and reduce your risk of incurring steep fines and other consequences from not complying.

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Vanta can help you get GDPR compliant quickly. Our platform will guide your team through the entire GDPR compliance process and automate your manual processes to help your organization significantly reduce GDPR costs. Learn more about using Vanta for GDPR compliance by requesting a demo.

Pre-work for your SOC 2 compliance

Choose the right type of SOC 2 report:

Do you sell goods or services to EU businesses, consumers, or both?

Determine the framework for your SOC 2 report. Of the five Trust Service Criteria in SOC 2, every organization needs to comply with the first criteria (security), but you only need to assess and document the other criteria that apply. Determining your framework involves deciding which Trust Service Criteria and controls are applicable to your business using our Trust Service Criteria Guide.

Estimate the resources you expect to need. This will vary depending on how closely you already align with SOC 2 security controls, but it can include several costs such as:

Compliance software

Engineers and potentially consultants

Security tools, such as access control systems

Administrative resources to draft security policies

Auditing for your compliance certification

Choose the right type of SOC 2 report:

Do you sell goods or services to EU businesses, consumers, or both?

Work toward SOC 2 compliance

Begin with an initial assessment of your system using compliance automation software to determine which necessary controls and practices you have already implemented and which you still need to put in place.

Review your Vanta report to determine any controls and protocols within the “Security” Trust Service Criteria that you do not yet meet and implement these one by one. These are multi-tiered controls across several categories of security, including:

CC1: Control Environment

CC2: Communication and Information

CC3: Risk Assessment

CC4: Monitoring Activities

CC5: Control Activities

CC6: Logical and Physical Access Controls

CC7: System Operations

CC8: Change Management

CC9: Risk Mitigation

Using Vanta’s initial assessment report as a to-do list, address each of the applicable controls in the other Trust Services Criteria that you identified in your initial framework, but that you have not yet implemented.

Using Vanta’s initial assessment report, draft security policies and protocols that adhere to the standards outlined in SOC 2.  

Vanta’s tool includes thorough and user-friendly templates to make this simpler and save time for your team.

Run Vanta’s automated compliance software again to determine if you have met all the necessary criteria and controls for your SOC 2 report and to document your compliance with these controls.

Complete a SOC 2 report audit

Select and hire an auditor affiliated with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the organization that developed and supports SOC 2.

Complete a readiness assessment with this auditor to determine if you have met the minimum standards to undergo a full audit.

If your readiness assessment indicates that there are SOC 2 controls you need to address before your audit, complete these requirements. However, if you have automated compliance software to guide your preparations and your SOC 2 compliance, this is unlikely.

Undergo a full audit with your SOC 2 report auditor. This may involve weeks or longer of working with your auditor to provide the documentation they need. Vanta simplifies your audit, however, by compiling your compliance evidence and documentation into one platform your auditor can access directly.

When you pass your audit, the auditor will present you with your SOC 2 report to document and verify your compliance.

Maintain your SOC 2 compliance annually

Establish a system or protocol to regularly monitor your SOC 2 compliance and identify any breaches of your compliance, as this can happen with system updates and changes.

Promptly address any gaps in your compliance that arise, rather than waiting until your next audit.

Undergo a SOC 2 re-certification audit each year with your chosen SOC 2 auditor to renew your certification.

Download this checklist for easy reference

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Prioritizing Your Security and Opening Doors with SOC 2 Compliance

Information security is a vital priority for any business today from an ethical standpoint and from a business standpoint. Not only could a data breach jeopardize your revenue but many of your future clients and partners may require a SOC 2 report before they consider your organization. Achieving and maintaining your SOC 2 compliance can open countless doors, and you can simplify the process with the help of the checklist above and Vanta s compliance automation software. Request a demo today to learn more about how we can help you protect and grow your organization.

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Request a demo

Develop a roadmap for successful implementation of an ISMS and ISO 27001 certification

Implement Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) process to recognize challenges and identify gaps for remediation

Consider ISO 27001 certification costs relative to org size and number of employees

Clearly define scope of work to plan certification time to completion

Select an ISO 27001 auditor

Set the scope of your organization’s ISMS

Decide which business areas are covered by the ISMS and which are out of scope

Consider additional security controls for business processes that are required to pass ISMS-protected information across the trust boundary

Inform stakeholders regarding scope of the ISMS

Establish an ISMS governing body

Build a governance team with management oversight

Incorporate key members of top management, e.g. senior leadership and executive management with responsibility for strategy and resource allocation

Conduct an inventory of information assets

Consider all assets where information is stored, processed, and accessible

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Record information assets: data and people
Record physical assets: laptops, servers, and physical building locations
Record intangible assets: intellectual property, brand, and reputation

Assign to each asset a classification and owner responsible for ensuring the asset is appropriately inventoried, classified, protected, and handled

Execute a risk assessment

Establish and document a risk-management framework to ensure consistency

Identify scenarios in which information, systems, or services could be compromised

Determine likelihood or frequency with which these scenarios could occur

Evaluate potential impact of each scenario on confidentiality, integrity, or availability of information, systems, and services

Rank risk scenarios based on overall risk to the organization’s objectives

Develop a risk register

Record and manage your organization’s risks

Summarize each identified risk

Indicate the impact and likelihood of each risk

Document a risk treatment plan

Design a response for each risk (Risk Treatment)

Assign an accountable owner to each identified risk

Assign risk mitigation activity owners

Establish target dates for completion of risk treatment activities

Complete the Statement of Applicability worksheet

Review 114 controls of Annex A of ISO 27001 standard

Select controls to address identified risks

Complete the Statement of Applicability listing all Annex A controls, justifying inclusion or exclusion of each control in the ISMS implementation

Continuously assess and manage risk

Build a framework for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving the ISMS

Include information or references to supporting documentation regarding:

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Information Security Objectives
Leadership and Commitment
Roles, Responsibilities, and Authorities
Approach to Assessing and Treating Risk
Control of Documented Information
Communication
Internal Audit
Management Review
Corrective Action and Continual Improvement
Policy Violations

Assemble required documents and records

Review ISO 27001 Required Documents and Records list

Customize policy templates with organization-specific policies, process, and language

Establish employee training and awareness programs

Conduct regular trainings to ensure awareness of new policies and procedures

Define expectations for personnel regarding their role in ISMS maintenance

Train personnel on common threats facing your organization and how to respond

Establish disciplinary or sanctions policies or processes for personnel found out of compliance with information security requirements

Perform an internal audit

Allocate internal resources with necessary competencies who are independent of ISMS development and maintenance, or engage an independent third party

Verify conformance with requirements from Annex A deemed applicable in your ISMS's Statement of Applicability

Share internal audit results, including nonconformities, with the ISMS governing body and senior management

Address identified issues before proceeding with the external audit

Undergo external audit of ISMS to obtain ISO 27001 certification

Engage an independent ISO 27001 auditor

Conduct Stage 1 Audit consisting of an extensive documentation review; obtain feedback regarding readiness to move to Stage 2 Audit

Conduct Stage 2 Audit consisting of tests performed on the ISMS to ensure proper design, implementation, and ongoing functionality; evaluate fairness, suitability, and effective implementation and operation of controls

Address any nonconformities

Ensure that all requirements of the ISO 27001 standard are being addressed

Ensure org is following processes that it has specified and documented

Ensure org is upholding contractual requirements with third parties

Address specific nonconformities identified by the ISO 27001 auditor

Receive auditor’s formal validation following resolution of nonconformities

Conduct regular management reviews

Plan reviews at least once per year; consider a quarterly review cycle

Ensure the ISMS and its objectives continue to remain appropriate and effective

Ensure that senior management remains informed

Ensure adjustments to address risks or deficiencies can be promptly implemented

Calendar ISO 27001 audit schedule and surveillance audit schedules

Perform a full ISO 27001 audit once every three years

Prepare to perform surveillance audits in the second and third years of the Certification Cycle

Consider streamlining ISO 27001 certification with automation

Explore tools for automating security and compliance

Transform manual data collection and observation processes into automated and continuous system monitoring

Identify and close any gaps in ISMS implementation in a timely manner

Learn more about achieving ISO 27001 certification with Vanta

Book an ISO 27001 demo with Vanta

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Determine which annual audits and assessments are required for your company

Perform a readiness assessment and evaluate your security against HIPAA requirements

Review the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights Audit Protocol

Conduct required HIPAA compliance audits and assessments

Perform and document ongoing technical and non-technical evaluations, internally or in partnership with a third-party security and compliance team like Vanta

Document your plans and put them into action

Document every step of building, implementing, and assessing your compliance program

Vanta’s automated compliance reporting can streamline planning and documentation

Appoint a security and compliance point person in your company

Designate an employee as your HIPAA Compliance Officer

Schedule annual HIPAA training for all employees

Distribute HIPAA policies and procedures and ensure staff read and attest to their review

Document employee trainings and other compliance activities

Thoroughly document employee training processes, activities, and attestations

Establish and communicate clear breach report processes
to all employees

Ensure that staff understand what constitutes a HIPAA breach, and how to report a breach

Implement systems to track security incidents, and to document and report all breaches

Institute an annual review process

Annually assess compliance activities against theHIPAA Rules and updates to HIPAA

Continuously assess and manage risk

Build a year-round risk management program and integrate continuous monitoring

Understand the ins and outs of HIPAA compliance— and the costs of noncompliance

Download this checklist for easy reference

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Access Review Stage	Content / Functionality
Across all stages	Easily create and save a new access review at a point in time View detailed audit evidence of historical access reviews
Setup access review procedures	Define a global access review procedure that stakeholders can follow, ensuring consistency and mitigation of human error in reviews Set your access review frequency (monthly, quarterly, etc.) and working period/deadlines
Consolidate account access data from systems	Integrate systems using dozens of pre-built integrations, or “connectors”. System account and HRIS data is pulled into Vanta. Upcoming integrations include Zoom and Intercom (account access), and Personio (HRIS) Upload access files from non-integrated systems View and select systems in-scope for the review
Review, approve, and deny user access	Select the appropriate systems reviewer and due date Get automatic notifications and reminders to systems reviewer of deadlines Automatic flagging of “risky” employee accounts that have been terminated or switched departments Intuitive interface to see all accounts with access, account accept/deny buttons, and notes section Track progress of individual systems access reviews and see accounts that need to be removed or have access modified Bulk sort, filter, and alter accounts based on account roles and employee title
Assign remediation tasks to system owners	Built-in remediation workflow for reviewers to request access changes and for admin to view and manage requests Optional task tracker integration to create tickets for any access changes and provide visibility to the status of tickets and remediation
Verify changes to access	Focused view of accounts flagged for access changes for easy tracking and management Automated evidence of remediation completion displayed for integrated systems Manual evidence of remediation can be uploaded for non-integrated systems
Report and re-evaluate results	Auditor can log into Vanta to see history of all completed access reviews Internals can see status of reviews in progress and also historical review detail