How to become a Chief Privacy Officer?

In this fast-pacing digital technology, organizations find enormous value in collecting, processing, and generating data from various sources. Data privacy and security are individuals’ primary concerns in protecting their data from malicious actors. So, a prominent role is designated with high responsibility, known as Chief Privacy Officer (CPO), to monitor and maintain all the data-related activities in the organization.

Table of Contents

What is the Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)?
Responsibilities of Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)
How to become a CPO or Chief Privacy Officer?
Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) Salary

What is the Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)?

The Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) is a senior-most executive responsible for developing, managing, and implementing data privacy compliance regulations to protect data from unauthorized access. The CPO is a central authority in making privacy-related decisions and enhancing the organization’s data security. In every organization that collects and maintains customer information, the CPO professional monitors and processes the data in compliance with data policies and rules.

Responsibilities of Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)

The following are the key responsibilities of a CPO:

• Develop a strategic privacy program that defines, maintains, and implements privacy policies and processes.
• Enhance information confidentiality by implementing privacy practices in the organization.
• Ensure that the organization’s privacy policies abide by the privacy standards, regulations, and legislation.
• Coordinate with senior management, security, and corporate compliance officers in the organization to implement privacy governance.
• Monitor the organization’s information privacy risk assessment, mitigation, and remediation.
• Coordinate with the information management director and other applicable organization units to monitor customer rights to examine, amend, and restrict access to secure information.
• Conduct training and awareness programs about data protection policies for all the employees in the organization.
• Develop and guide the process for investigating and operating on privacy and security complaints.
• Implement and maintain the organization’s federal and state privacy laws and accreditation standards.

How to become a CPO or Chief Privacy Officer?

The Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) is a high-level professional in information security compared with many other cybersecurity and information security professions. A career path that includes experience, hard work, and skills is essential to have a roadmap to becoming a Chief Privacy Officer (CPO). We have curated an in detail career path for becoming a Chief Privacy Officer (CPO).

• Define a Career Plan: A perfect career plan helps to create a way to become a Chief Privacy Officer (CPO). It helps if you focus on your degree, certifications, IT work experience, and professional development to achieve the goal of becoming a CPO.It would be best to understand the areas of interest in choosing the domain, such as IT, Education, Environment, Finance, and Banking. Overall, from the educational qualification to the skills development, the career path should meet the qualifications of a CPO.

• Achieving Relevant Degree: To become a CPO, you should have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Cybersecurity, Computer Engineering, or Cyberlaw. A few organizations prefer a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity and Data Privacy. You should be far ahead in choosing the relevant degree that creates a way to become a CPO with respective knowledge and skills.

• Grab a Professional Certification: A relevant professional certification not only adds value to your career but also helps you achieve skills to become a CPO. The following are several professional certifications related to the qualification of a CPO:
  1. Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E), accredited by IAPP
  2. Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), accredited by IAPP
  3. Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT), accredited by IAPP
  4. Certified in Healthcare Privacy and Security (CHPS), accredited by Ahima
  5. Certified in Healthcare Privacy Compliance (CHPC), accredited by Compliance Certification Board (CCB)
  6. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), accredited by (ISC)²

• Job Search: Now, it’s time to search for an opportunity from a reputed company. It is said that many Chief Privacy Officers began their careers in the existing company. If you are confident enough to start your career as a CPO, check if there is any vacancy for a CPO in the current company, and it would be an excellent opportunity to place your application and get promoted.
  If you want to switch to another company or domain, check out various available recruiting platforms, such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, CyberSecurityJobs.com, etc., for job vacancies.

• Improve your skill set: Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) is a high-level profession; irrespective of the department, all employees in the organization working with the data will rely on CPO’s advice and decisions. By then, you would have experienced enough handling new data privacy tasks in the organization. Having an open mind to learning new skill sets is a great way to enhance your knowledge and abilities.
  As a CPO, sometimes, you need to be a part of the domains which are unfamiliar to you. So, exploring various fields, self-learning, and attending workshops, conferences, tech events, and lectures would help you to achieve the necessary skills.

Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) Salary

The Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) is a highly reputed profession enjoying exciting salary packages. According to the salary survey conducted by IAPP, the average annual income of CPO is around $200,000 as of 2021. The Salary package might vary based on the work location, experience, and responsibilities involved in the organization.

Information Privacy with InfosecTrain

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AUTHOR
Emaliya Keerthana
Content Writer

“ Emaliya Keerthana working as a Content Writer at InfosecTrain. She likes to explore the latest technology. She writes on emerging IT-related topics and is passionate about sharing her thoughts through blogs. “