Consequences of a third party mishandling your personal data

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Proper management of personal data is essential for any organization, and transferring that information to third parties requires great care and extreme attention to legal minutiae. When a data controller entrusts a third party to process personal information under its care, that third party, by law, becomes a data processor with a number of responsibilities. When such a third party fails to meet its obligations, it creates problems for the controller who becomes embroiled in a host of legal issues.

At the international level, various laws and regulations, such as the PDP Law in Colombia or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union, clearly establish the obligations and commitments of both controllers and processors. If a processor does not comply with the established standards, the controller will effectively face legal consequences and sanctions.

It is therefore essential that the data controller take certain measures to protect itself from these consequences. In the first instance, it will be necessary to carry out a careful selection of the data job seekers database before transferring personal data. The suitability and capacity of the third party must be assessed with due diligence, and their security practices, privacy policy, previous experience and references provided as a data processor must be reviewed.

Despite all these precautions, it is impossible to guarantee 100% security of the data provided, therefore there are other measures that the data controller must take to mitigate the risks and protect themselves legally. These measures include the preparation of solid contracts and agreements, the performance of periodic audits and the creation of clear protocols and procedures that the data controller must follow in the event of security incidents, ensuring that the controller is notified without fail and without delay when they occur.

Let's see then what each one contributes:

Contracts and agreements are essential because they are the only mechanism to detail the obligations of the parties, to indicate what can and cannot be done with the data, to establish how the security and confidentiality of the information will be handled, what the data transfer protocols will be between the parties and what the mechanisms will be to report and address security breaches.

Periodic audits are essential elements for knowing or evaluating compliance with data protection regulations and agreements established with the data processor. This may include verification of physical and computer security, data management practices and staff training.

Protocols and procedures for data security and privacy breaches will always be important, as they will allow both parties to fully understand how to address cases of leaks, theft, or loss of information. In addition, they will know what corrective actions should be taken and in what sequence, how the interests of the Data Subjects will be protected, and how organizations can be informed of both the incident and the work being done to contain its consequences. In this context, prompt notification allows the responsible party to take corrective measures, comply with its own legal obligations to inform the authorities and those affected, and plan improvement actions to be taken in the future to prevent the occurrence of events with similar characteristics.

So far, the ways in which an organization can protect itself from the actions of the data processor have been explained; however, despite all these efforts, there will always be a residual risk, because said processor is not a loose piece within the management of personal data processing; this indicates that it is not possible, in any way, to fail to comply with the obligations regarding the protection and security of information, therefore, if a violation of personal data occurs, it is because something was not considered or was not taken into account in the management of the control of the treatment.