New Canadian Privacy Breach Notification Rules now in Force

New Canadian Privacy Breach Notification Rules now in Force

Effective November 1, 2018, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has put new privacy rules in place. These rules are designed to increase technology privacy and require an organization to report any privacy breach to the OPC.

What is a Privacy Breach?

A privacy breach is a communications or technology breach of security protocols that results in “a real risk of significant harm” of the affected individuals. In simple terms, this is when information on customers or clients is hacked, and accessed by an unauthorized party. This breach must be reported regardless of the number of individuals it affects. Significant harm refers to “bodily harm, humiliation, damage to reputation or relationships, loss of employment, business or professional opportunities, financial loss, identity theft, negative effects on the credit record and damage to or loss of property.”

Who do I report to?

If a privacy breach has happened to your small or large business, it is important to report this to the OPC right away. Failure to report a breach can result in substantial fines. The government of Canada has provided a form that may be used to report a breach. This is linked below.

https://www.priv.gc.ca/media/4844/pipeda_pb_form_e.pdf

What Records Must be Kept?

These new rules also come with strict guidelines on what record keeping must be completed. At the minimum, if a privacy breach takes place, you must keep records of the following:

• date or estimated date of the breach;
• general description of the circumstances of the breach;
• nature of information involved in the breach; and
• whether or not the breach was reported to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada/individuals were notified.

For further information on the New Canadian Privacy Breach Notification Rules, please click the link below to access the full array of information published by the government of Canada. Remember to keep your business secure with Spy Store, so you do not need to be troubled by this new regulation.