CCPA compliance checklist

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is the main regulation guarding the digital and personal privacy of California residents. The Act grants consumers significant rights over their personal information. Compliance strategies are essential to ensure transparency and avoid regulatory action.

This article provides an easy-to-follow CCPA compliance checklist. We will cover critical requirements to meet the six core CCPA rights, including obtaining consent, handling data requests, and safeguarding personal information.

The rights consumers have under the CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act protects the privacy of California residents and households. The Act is built around six core consumer rights that companies and other organizations must respect. These rights include:

• The right to know how companies collect and use data about individuals
• The right to access personal information held by companies
• The right to delete or correct personal data
• The right to opt out of data sharing and selling
• The right to non-discrimination in data practices
• The right to data portability

The California Consumer Privacy Act came into force in 2018 and was supplemented by the 2020 California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). The rights above and the checklist below refer to compliance requirements under the amended regulations.

CPRA also extended the rights above in some areas. For example, it gave California residents the right to block the disclosure of sensitive personal information.

CPRA also added clauses relating to the use of data in automated decision-making and AI analysis. Companies must inform consumers if their information will be used in automated processes. They must document the outcomes of these processes and potential privacy impacts.

All rights enshrined by CCPA and CPRA revolve around a definition of "personal information."

According to CCPA, personal information includes data that "relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household."

CPRA added the word "sensitive", creating an additional category, requiring robust data security protection. We'll cover that in more detail in our compliance checklist.

CCPA compliance checklist: What you need to know

Meeting CCPA requirements can be a complex task. However, you can simplify the challenge by using a CCPA compliance checklist.

The checklist below covers critical compliance areas, helping you meet CCPA requirements for scoping, data analysis, data security, and protecting privacy rights.

The core elements of a CCPA compliance checklist should include:

• Assessing scope and applicability
• Classifying data
• Updating privacy policies
• Processes to handle consumer requests
• Data security measures
• Managing third-party vendors
• Protecting the personal information of minors
• Training employees
• Record keeping and audits
• Risk assessment

1. Assess your CCPA scope and applicability

The first task is assessing whether you need to comply with the CCPA and the extent of your compliance needs. Companies must comply with the CCPA if they:

• Earn gross revenues above $25 million (or the current amount adjusted for inflation).
• Derive over 50% of their revenues from data processing activities
• Handle the personal information of over 100,000 California residents, households, or devices.

Remember: The CCPA originally covered companies handling the personal information of over 50,000 California residents. The CPRA raised this threshold to 100,000. This change may have removed your business from covered entity status. Assess the size of your in-state customer base to make sure.

2. Identify and classify critical data

Start by understanding the scope of personal information under the CCPA. Personal information is data collected by companies from California residents or households. Forms of personal information include:

• Personal names
• Addresses
• Login credentials
• Financial, social security, passport, or driver's license numbers
• Biometrics and geolocation data
• Medical or purchasing histories

The key principle is that personal information includes data that could identify an individual if disclosed to unauthorized actors.

Under CPRA, most personal information is now classed as sensitive personal information (SPI). This places greater responsibilities on covered entities to identify and secure customer information or risk financial penalties.

Analyze the personal information collected by your website and products. Determine how you collect data, how you use that data, and how you store the personal information provided by customers. Assess data-sharing policies as well. Do you share personal information with third parties, brand partners, or subsidiaries?

3. Update your privacy policies

Companies must provide customers with transparent privacy policies before customers agree to data collection and sharing. Your privacy policy should set out privacy rights under the CCPA and briefly explain how you protect those rights.

List the categories of personal data your company collects. Explain what you do with customer data, specifying a legitimate business purpose. And transparently note data sharing or selling practices.

Privacy policies should also explain how customers can exercise their rights under CCPA. Explain how customers can request access or correct and delete their personal data.

Remember: The privacy policy should be directly connected to a CCPA-compliant consent form. You must obtain consent before collecting, sharing, and selling sensitive consumer data.

4. Implement data security measures

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, covered entities must take reasonable security measures to keep personal data safe. Security measures should protect against "unauthorized or illegal access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure."

Reasonable security measures vary between companies. They also vary depending on the type of personal information being processed, its sensitivity, and how the company uses it. However, common security measures include:

• Advanced encryption of stored personal information
• Encryption of consumer data as it passes to and from company servers
• Multi-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access
• Tools to scan for and block malware and viruses
• Employee training to detect phishing scams
• Access controls based on employee roles to implement the principle of least privilege
• Segmentation of the most sensitive personal information and personal data relating to minors
• Robust security audits to monitor access patterns, cyber-attacks, and user activity

Additionally, to achieve compliance, companies must create incident response plans to deal with possible data breaches. According to CCPA requirements, businesses must:

• Notify the CPPA about data breaches within 15 days.
• Inform the state Attorney General if breaches impact over 500 people.
• Inform individuals if breaches of their personal data compromise their privacy rights.

5. Create processes to handle consumer requests under CCPA

CCPA is built around consumer rights. Companies must have processes to enable consumer requests and allow customers to exercise those rights.

• The right to access: Companies must allow access requests. Customers should be able to request access to the data a company holds about them. Personal data should be provided in an easily readable format.
• The right to deletion: Similarly, customers should be able to request the deletion of sensitive personal information when it is no longer needed for data processing.
• The right to opt-out: CCPA compliance allows customers to opt out of data selling processes. Businesses must provide a "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link to request opt-outs.
• The right to data portability: Ensure all customer requests generate consistent, machine-readable outputs.
• The right to non-discrimination: Respond to all access requests fairly, without penalizing customers for exercising their CCPA rights.

CCPA does not mandate specific methods to achieve compliance with customer requests. Viable methods include online compliance portals, toll-free phone numbers, or dedicated email addresses.

Remember: CCPA requires responses within 45 days of customers making requests. Quality control processes must ensure you meet these targets.

6. Ensure third-party vendors comply with the CCPA

Managing external service providers is a core part of CCPA compliance. Companies that collect customer data will most likely be penalized if data processing partners disclose personal information or make security errors. Vetting partners before beginning data partnerships is essential.

Identify what data you share or store with third parties. Enquire about their CCPA compliance policies and understand compliance requirements.

Review existing contracts with third parties and add data processing addenda. These addenda testify that service providers and contractors comply with CCPA provisions.

Remember: Contractual addenda insulate service providers and contractors against consumer requests to opt-out. Under CCPA regulators assume that compliant partners fulfill a vital business need. Without addenda, you may experience a flood of unnecessary access requests.

7. Protect the data of minors

CCPA includes strict opt-in requirements when using personal information collected from 13-to 16-year-olds. You must have consent to share and sell the data of minors.

In the case of those under 13 years of age, companies must gain consent from the parent or legal guardian.

Additionally, after the passing of CPRA, you can only make one request to share or sell a minor's data every 12 months. Tighten up verification processes to prevent repeated consent requests to the same individual.

8. Train employees to meet CCPA goals

All staff handling customer data must understand how CCPA works and the compliance requirements. This is especially critical for employees who manage customer requests.

Robust training delivers a consistent level of service to customers, helps meet CCPA timescales, and reinforces the need to avoid unauthorized disclosure of personal information. Employees should understand:

• The scope of personal information under the CCPA
• Notification and incident response processes
• Compliant data handling and storage policies
• How to deal with consumer requests
• The importance of data security

9. Maintain relevant records and schedule CCPA audits

The CCPA and CPRA require companies to retain records of customer requests for 24 months. Documentation should include the original request and the outcome of the process.

Documentation should support annual CCPA audits. Audits should demonstrate how the company complies with CCPA provisions and identify areas of improvement. Areas to audit include:

• Data collection: Have you extended data collection beyond initial specifications? If so, have you amended your consent forms and privacy policies?
• Data inventory: Where do you store data? Are storage partners compliant with CCPA? Do you store data securely with proper safeguards against data breaches?
• Third parties: Check all service providers and contractors regularly. Identify partners with compliance issues, and assess whether to explore alternatives.
• Data security: Is personal information secure at all times? Assess defenses against cyber-attacks, insider threats, and system failures.
• Employee training: Test staff knowledge to ensure a high level of CCPA awareness.

10. Put in place risk assessment policies to meet CPPA requirements

Following the enactment of the California Privacy Protection Amendment (CPPA), covered entities must submit risk assessments to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA).

Companies must perform risk assessments before gathering customer data in ways that "present [a] significant risk to consumers’ privacy". In practice, this includes all data sharing and selling operations, the use of data in AI processing, and processing the data of minors.

To create a CCPA-compliant risk assessment, companies must:

• Describe the personal information they process
• Explain how the company will process this data
• Evaluate the benefits of data processing and weigh these benefits against potential privacy risks
• Detail safeguards to protect individual privacy

In summary: Understanding CCPA essentials

CCPA compliance is critically important for businesses that operate in the State of California. This article has outlined a comprehensive CCPA compliance checklist to help you break down tasks and achieve regulatory compliance.

Core themes include understanding consumer rights, implementing data security measures, updating privacy policies, and ensuring third-party vendor compliance. CPRA also emphasizes protecting minors' rights and notifying consumers about data sharing and selling practices.

Data breaches continue to rise, and regulators are increasingly willing to penalize privacy violations. Follow this checklist to secure data, build consumer trust, and avoid costly fines.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not legal advice. Use it at your own risk and consult a licensed professional for legal matters. Content may not be up-to-date or applicable to your jurisdiction and is subject to change without notice.