Privacy Compliance Automation Tools

Automating privacy compliance tasks reduces human error and ensures consistent application of privacy policies. These tools range from automated data discovery and classification to consent propagation and rights request handling.

privacykit provides a framework for building privacy-compliant applications with built-in support for consent management, data subject requests, and audit logging. Commercial tools like BigID and Privacera offer enterprise-scale privacy automation including data discovery, classification, and automated compliance workflows.

// Building automated privacy compliance with privacykit
const PrivacyKit = require('privacykit');

class PrivacyComplianceAutomation {
  constructor() {
    this.privacyKit = new PrivacyKit({
      database: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
      encryption: {
        algorithm: 'aes-256-gcm',
        key: process.env.ENCRYPTION_KEY
      }
    });
    
    this.setupAutomation();
  }
  
  setupAutomation() {
    // Automated data discovery
    this.privacyKit.discovery.schedule({
      frequency: 'daily',
      scanners: [
        'database-scanner',
        'file-scanner',
        'api-scanner'
      ],
      onDiscovery: this.handleDataDiscovery.bind(this)
    });
    
    // Automated consent propagation
    this.privacyKit.consent.on('update', async (event) => {
      await this.propagateConsent(event);
    });
    
    // Automated retention management
    this.privacyKit.retention.schedule({
      frequency: 'daily',
      policies: this.getRetentionPolicies(),
      onExpiry: this.handleDataExpiry.bind(this)
    });
    
    // Automated rights request processing
    this.privacyKit.rights.automate({
      access: this.automatedAccessRequest.bind(this),
      deletion: this.automatedDeletionRequest.bind(this),
      portability: this.automatedPortabilityRequest.bind(this)
    });
  }
  
  async handleDataDiscovery(discovery) {
    // Classify discovered data
    const classification = await this.classifyData(discovery);
    
    // Apply appropriate protections
    if (classification.sensitivity === 'high') {
      await this.applyEncryption(discovery.location);
      await this.restrictAccess(discovery.location);
    }
    
    // Update data inventory
    await this.updateDataInventory(discovery, classification);
    
    // Alert if non-compliant
    if (!classification.compliant) {
      await this.alertComplianceTeam(discovery, classification);
    }
  }
  
  async propagateConsent(consentUpdate) {
    // Get all systems that need updating
    const systems = await this.getAffectedSystems(consentUpdate);
    
    // Update each system
    const results = await Promise.all(
      systems.map(system => 
        this.updateSystemConsent(system, consentUpdate)
      )
    );
    
    // Verify propagation
    const failures = results.filter(r => !r.success);
    if (failures.length > 0) {
      await this.handlePropagationFailures(failures);
    }
  }
  
  async automatedAccessRequest(request) {
    // Gather data from all sources
    const data = await this.privacyKit.gather({
      userId: request.userId,
      sources: 'all',
      format: request.format || 'json'
    });
    
    // Generate report
    const report = await this.privacyKit.report({
      data,
      template: 'gdpr-access-request',
      includeMetadata: true
    });
    
    // Deliver securely
    return await this.privacyKit.deliver({
      report,
      method: 'encrypted-download',
      recipient: request.userId
    });
  }
}