Principle 4: End-to-End Security

Privacy cannot exist without security. This principle mandates that personal data be secure throughout its lifecycle, from collection through processing to deletion. Security measures must be appropriate to the sensitivity of data and the risks involved. This goes beyond basic encryption to encompass access controls, audit logging, secure development practices, and incident response capabilities.

End-to-end security in privacy contexts requires protecting data not just from external attackers but also from unauthorized internal access. Zero-trust architectures, where every access request is verified regardless of source, align well with privacy requirements. Encryption should be ubiquitous, with data encrypted at rest, in transit, and increasingly during processing using techniques like secure multi-party computation.